I prefer the old presidential days when LBJ showed us his stomach scar and when he picked his dog up by the ears.
18
Britain leads nothing anymore except royals tourism. It is a second rate nation with a declining economy and a ripped and torn social fabric.
Boris Johnson is a cartoon as are the 160,000 old whites who are the Conservative Party, 70% male and all of them Col. Blimp or Lady Blunderbuss.
The two European nations that are world leaders are Germany and France.
Great Britain is no longer great or consequential, and noteworthy only for the damage it has done and is doing to itself.
Johnson is a tinpot Trump.
In 10 years time, both will be scorned, in 50 years time, they will be condemned with all of history's knaves and fools.
72
It's going to get worse, because of the additional stresses resulting from the playing out of climate change (which already is an element in the world's problems) unless we consciously choose to respond in more effective ways. Human instinct tends to become more selfish and open to irrational prejudice under stress. It'll be hard for the world's communities to do otherwise.
29
Boris and Donald are both boors who see only small picture nationalism and for England in particular, Brexit spells disaster. Trade has been a mainstay of the British and of what the Empire was made. The USA has a different story, somewhat. We had manifest destiny, the Brits "the sun never sets on the British Empire." Together we now accommodate these two loudmouths who claim to set our countries on their path of nationalism and empire when the global world is connected via the internet, trade alliances, treaties, mutual respect, and a realization that we must be in this together. Whether via climate change and a standard of living and comity rather than the opposite, we've a smaller world. Leaders, however, must be big thinkers. There's the rub with these two.
31
"— until in 2016, Britain, in a radical act of self-harm, hurled itself over a cliff called Brexit. Little Englandism had reasserted itself. Johnson bobbed up to incarnate it, demonstrating the inexhaustible English fascination with the jolly good pranks of the pampered public schoolboy."
Before Trump's election, I had a very uneasy feeling that we would do the same, that the "novelty" of electing such a revolting, flamboyant fraud who was obviously unfit for the job would be too much to resist for people who had "nothing to lose", or so they thought.
People would much prefer to be entertained rather than "governed", and let's be honest, Trump on his worst day was more entertaining than Hillary on her best. We basically "punked" ourselves just too see what it would look like.
What many well meaning people do not grasp is that populists view all politicians as crooks, so when forced to choose they will always elect the one that panders to their worst instincts. And republicans will always vote for the one that provides tax cuts, no mystery there.
Compounding the problem is that there does exist a real, tangible immigration problem, so Trump's worst exhortations and bombast are not purely fictional, and that message has a very fertile ground to land on.
The GOP would much prefer that the immigration problem go on forever rather than fixing it, as it provides a never ending source of energy and animus to their base, and guarantees fealty to Trump and the GOP.
41
As always, excellent analysis. I recently read an article about Boris Johnson in the New Yorker and was appalled by his lack of conscious--in some ways, he's worse than Trump, if you can imagine that. As you mentioned Mr. Cohen, Johnson cloaks his emptiness and irresponsibility under the guise of the naughty but fun schoolboy. During eight years as mayor of London, Johnson accomplished nothing, and his administration was chaotic. How does anyone expect any differently if he becomes prime minister? Worse, yet, what happens when a real crisis hits? Neither Trump nor Johnson are equipped to deal with governing two powerful countries, which leaves their citizens vulnerable. Two doughnuts with gaping holes is right. No substance and all bluster, the laughing stock of the West and dupes for the likes of Putin and company.
29
Today France voted a tax against GAFA * for Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon )which means that all corporations who have a business of over 750 million euros or over 25 million only in France, will be subjected to a tax in France of 3 % of their total business volumre, not their benefice .
This failed to be voted for the EU .
6
Parliamentary government leader loose confidence of house of commons. Non confidence vote and Mr Johnson gone.
America had non confidence votes vers impeachment for president?
5
Wow! A NYT columnist that recognizes that the Trump phenomenon isn't just about racism, bigotry, and misogyny, but also concerns the hurt neo-liberal policies are visiting on many people! Progress! England will not leave the EU because of the damage it would wreck on the country, ending the political career of any Prime Minister or Party that carries it out. Mr. Johnson is smart enough to know this.
4
Give Putin credit for putting these two in power.
31
Spot on as always. I’d add an “R” and a “G” to the enablers who jump-started our race to the bottom: Reagan and Gingrich. The economic divide began with Reaganomics and congressional gridlock was championed by Gingrich. Everything that we experience now was born then. Trump and Johnson are the burlesque show versions.
26
The poet Richard Wilbur once wrote that the opposite of a doughnut is “a cookie with a hole around it.” That’s what I want for my next President—a woman or man of substance.
8
Boris (or Boor-is, whichever one chooses) a few years ago made a speech to the Westminster Chamber of Commerce, a star chamber of unimaginable wealth, and ladled out fawning platitudes exalting the billionaires as deserving of their wealth because they were the smartest people in the world. The speech caused a bit of a stir at the time because it ignored the truly smart people in the world and regaled inherited fortunes as the products of intellect rather than luck. Here, rather than Trump appealing to the squeezed middle and working classes, Johnson flattered his base of the über wealthy.
This is what Brexit and its toxic lies are about: returning the land of my birth to a best bygone age of wealth and class disparity. Working conditions, wages, and standards of living will plummet even further than they are now as Johnson masquerades as Churchill, except without the statesmanship or gravitas, his deference being to the lords of the manor and far from the serfs.
The damnable thing is ordinary people seem to want this dystopia; it removes the need for ambition and the burden of hope and allows the population to wallow in self loathing wrapped up in racial animus.
Dark days ahead for the special relationship.
28
To Roger's point about the internet:
A word one hears quite a bit these days is "curated." No longer is art the only thing curated. Everything is curated. Vacations, kitchens... You name it. Implicit is the notion of class. A "curated" something-or-other is better than an un-curated something-or-other, presumably because it has been vetted by a scholar of the field under discussion.
Used to be that matters of national importance were "curated" by several serious-seeming white men. Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Jensen...
That scheme is long gone. Today there is no central "curating" authority. For better or worse, we are fragmented.
Technological innovation––the printing press; radio; film; TV; cable TV; the internet: each has played a role as an agent of sociopolitical change. Each has re-written the rules of engagement with society.
Cable TV, with its hundreds of stations, paved the way for fragmentation. But it is on the internet that fragmentation has achieved its each zenith. On the net, we all "curate" our own lives.
6
Outstanding and logical, brilliant and reasoned but unfortunately it won't reach the millions it needs to reach because they "actually" believe the NYT is giving them "fake news" all the time. Listening to and trying to make sense of the president and his followers is one of the most difficult of challenges of this century or any century.
When these two clowns are finished with all of their destructive nonsense, putting the world, especially any free world left, back together will be like putting billions of "humpty dumpties" back together again. What a waste!
25
Even the Borgias would have found these aberrations repulsive and abhorrent.
10
o.k. We know how to describe rain storms. The umbrella was invented a long time ago. It's time to open it.
12
In the case of the United States, one major political party has grown a huge doughnut hole in its "principles and platform" because they have been rotting gradually over the last 40 years. We have not heard an acknowledgement by any Republican of this rot. Instead, those who became uncomfortable chose to jump ship and abandon the "Party of Lincoln" -- revealing an embarrassing level of political cowardice. I hope some of those who are now embarrassed to be Republicans will vote for the Democratic nominee in 2020 in order to right the American ship and throw its current captain and crew overboard.
20
Roger is right on as usual, but one small observation: the president who allowed the bankers of the 2008 crash to walk away completely free was Barack Obama, not Donald Trump.
13
Perhaps your criticism should be directed to the "followship" more than the leadership as neither man would be where they are today without the support of those who put them in this position.
We, the American voter, together with those we elect are responsible for the misuse and abuse of political power.
President Trump and his social miscreants are destroying our once, however questionable, great nation while his ardent supporters without whom he would still be the king of tinseltown cheer him on.
Maybe our citizenry is tired of winning, but more likely we know we have never won, that no one ever wins, that we all meet a common fate and we have been buying the lies of the "upper class" of our classless society, but don't know how to stop or where to turn.
"Fake news" is something that has been sold for years, but is only now being recognized and vehemently denied by those in control of government, industry and religion who have employed that straw man for millenia.
Until we have the courage to accept reality and deal with it, rather than welcome the placebo of lies which now govern us, our nation will further descend to the point where the spontaneous combustion of deceit will consume us.
No eartly creature can continue to exist if they deny the truth of their existence and even with the ability to think we are no different. It took eons for us to crawl from the swamp and we have progressed to a point where we can return in moments.
Will we?
8
This is as well-written an article I have read in ages. I sometimes wonder what our country would be like if people like Roger Cohen ran it.
9
The likes of Johnson lied & lied & lied again to the electorate about how wonderful life would be outside the EU. The leave campaign was largely based on xenophobia & appealed to peoples' basest instincts.
Leave came in at 51.8%, remain at 48.1%
That's a clear but not overwhelming majority.
Every poll I've seen since some of the reality of leaving the EU has become clear, shows a clear majority to remain.
Johnson was a disaster as foreign secretary. One trait he shares with Trump is a disregard for details. Another trait he shares with Trump is making things up & then trying to minimise & laugh it off.
He is also a nasty character, check out him & Darius Guppy & have a look at his racist comments. Take a look at Eddie Mair interviewing him.
In Scotland the vote to remain was 62% against 38% to leave.
Many people who voted no in the Scotland independence referendum would now vote yes & I'm one of them. Johnson as PM is likely to push that number ever higher.
It's ironic that The Conservative & Unionist Party will be largely responsible for destroying the Union.
13
An excellent article. Thank you mr. Cohen
3
You seem to forget that Britain voted to leave the EU.
4
Ah, Roger, off the hyperbolic edge again. If you were to believe his rants, you would conclude that all the world’s problems exist because of the election of Donald Trump. Ditto for Boris Johnson in England. I wish they’d just get on with this Brexit thing. Take England out of the union and see how it goes. Who knows, maybe it will work just fine. If not, then the Brits have nobody to blame but themselves. On the Trump front, Roger, surely you don’t believe “income inequality” started with Trump; that immigration was not an issue until Trump; that unbalanced trade relations with China and others started during Trump’s brief tenure? Do you begin to see the silliness of your tirades? Forgetting personalities, do you see nothing positive in the actions of our current president. At least deal with it in a rational and gentlemanly manner, or has that too disappeared in our current climate of vitriol?
5
Right and he should check his facts. Incomes at the bottom have begun to rise. They have a long way to go , but at least acknowledge that for a short while, things have moved in the right direction
1
While Cohen is spot on, he neglects one huge factor; the age and number of the people voting to put these under-qualified men in office.
A recent NYT’s article reported that approximately .03% of the U.K. population, mostly white, aged and male will vote to put Johnson in office to protect Brexit.
Forty percent of the Conservative Party is over 65 years old.Even though many see Johnson
as a “ bumbler “ promising different things to different audiences, they seem not to care. Leaving the E.U. Is the primary concern though many acknowledged they didn’t know on what terms Johnson would get them there. But, hey, he has a sense of humor unlike May.
And here we are with an aging population where 71% of people over 65 years of age vote compared to 46% among the 18-29 year old crowd. These aging folks ( I am one ) tend to have unequal clout on several fronts from overrepresentation in the states in which they’ve retired, the gerrymandering of many of those states, their own conservatism, and the time to vote.
They are also deciding, in vast numbers, not to fund climate change, healthcare, education and a myriad of other priorities that will overly affect the younger generations.
And Trump will help them. And try to keep out immigrants. And play to their patriotism. And give them “ tax breaks.”
All while selling them a bill of goods.
Whether we like it or not, the aged are ruling both the U.K. and the U.S. And it appears it’s not for the benefit of either country.
13
@It's About Time
You paint with too broad a brush. I am 71 and detest Trump. Did not vote for him and never will. There are many my age who feel the same way.
9
There has always been about 34% of any large population of humans who are AUTHORITARIAN in nature. Many learn it from their home life, church, etc. When the planet's population of homo sapiens goes from the 2 billion when I was born to over 7.5 billion and counting just in my little lifetime, that 34% is a significant number and very tempting for entities that wish to exploit others for nefarious means, ranging from profit to religious clout.
Toss those numbers of militant authoritarians with TV and screens everywhere that have the capacity to corrupt through entertainment, here we are. Reality Show Presidencies! Unlike their screen version, these ones are actually dangerous, to the entire planet.
10
The Tory party isn't Britain. For the sake of his party David Cameron called a referendum that boomeranged against his country. For the sake of her party his successor, Mrs. May, pursued a policy, Brexit, that even she didn't believe in, opening the doors to opportunists like Johnson. Now 120,000 people - the paid-up members of the Tory party, old, white, rich, smug - will choose the next prime minister. Whatever else all this represents, it isn't parliamentary democracy or even common sense, the two things that over the years came to epitomize the United Kingdom. Complacency, as much as anything, is a root cause, both there and in the US, of what we confront today.
11
I wonder how many time the author has sat down a talked to the Donald? There seems the need for people to give their psycho analysis of him, regardless of credentials. Knowing him might help too.
Whether opinion writers realize it or not, a majority of what Trump’s doing is exactly what politicians have campaigned on for decades. Accomplishing promises comes with risk.
Trade, immigration, and international relationships have drastically changed over the post WWII era. America no longer should be in agreements that are lopsided, a form of foreign aid in developed countries. The middle class we’ve enjoyed, has been negotiated away by both parties. We should be helping the economies of the people in Central America, and Africa, not Europe and China.
Our future depends on our ability to disrupt our current situation, and adapt to the future. We cannot afford to do both, or worse, continue business as usual.
Let’s stop trying to analyze Trump. How about finally changing a system that has been broken for years. A little help from both sides of the aisle is all that is needed. Trump didn’t create these problems. Congress should act to solve these problems. We know a pen and a phone didn’t work.
6
You talk of the "invisible ones," far from the metropolises of globalization who see "their hospitals died, public transport disappeared, their schools closed and their jobs went elsewhere." Why did all those public sector services die? Two reasons: the local and state governments were almost all in the hands of Republicans, and the Republican-controlled Senate in Washington said "NO" to anything Obama tried to do from 2010 on ward and severely curtailed any public sending in an attempt to ruin Obama's presidency. And who voted those Republicans into office? Typically the very ones that you note felt they counted for nothing. Democracy is at the mercy of the demos, the people, who do the voting.
12
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had leaders who actually looked at a cause-effect relationship when making important decisions that affect people’s lives! Brexit seems primarily to be the effect of anti-immigrant sentiment. So what caused so many immigrants? Some are escaping economic poverty, but many have had their homes and towns destroyed by the very countries that are now trying to turn them away when they have nowhere to go to be safe.
The Iraq War, supported by the UK, created hundreds of thousands of homeless people who had no jobs and no ability to feed their families and gave rise to ISIS. Where were Iraqis supposed to go to avoid being murdered or starved to death? The war in Syria, also supported by the US and the UK, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of families whose homes and entire towns were bombed into oblivion. Are they to stay there and die without jobs or money even to buy food? We in the West have created or supported many of the conditions causing migration, yet we wash our hands of any responsibility for the effects of our actions.
The US is supporting Saudi Arabia in creating atrocious conditions in Yemen. Yet the US refuses to accept refugees who are fleeing violence and starvation resulting from US bombs. That is unconscionable! Leaders should be forced to make evaluations of future effects of their actions and present them to the public before being allowed to proceed when they have no plan, as in Iraq, to address the obvious fallout.
9
Let's add another "i" for "infantilism."
23
Trump's lies and lack of decency are startling, as is his contempt for evidence-based policy, especially given the decency of the Obama years. The US seemed to have moral leadership, but it is easy to forget that the US has lacked moral leadership for a long time, with intermittent glimpses of it. Trump is the most embarrassing modern outgrowth of the racism, sexism, and xenophobia of forty percent of the electorate, but he still hasn't started an unnecessary war in the Middle East or Asia. He avoids these wars, although he gets the US horribly close, and he still has eighteen months to screw things up.
13
So glad you, and globalists like you, are triggered by elected nationalists Mr. Cohen.
1
Yes Roger he is all that and one more thing: Trump is a traitor conspiring with Russia to undo the post WWII world order.
24
Insults are not an argument. I intend that to apply to Egan, Blow, etc as well.
1
Mr. Cohen ends with a mixed metaphor of exceptional appropriateness.
4
Immoral Trumps dark violent cloud & is spreading like an infectious disease. Hes an enabler of the worst qualities rather than excellence. Ignorance breeds ignorance.
Todays Australia elected an equally dishonest, incompetent, unqualified, happy clapper PM called ScoMo aka ScumMo by those who won't abide his presence.
How did ScoMo get across the line......slogans & lies repeated daily by Murdochs muck, vested interests ie coal miners et al using their millions retain the status quo so they can continue destroying the environment, gerrymanders, unbridled greed and disaffection.
6
Whatever the cause of our latest round of anger and fear the results are always the same - racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, religious intolerance with the usual misidentified suspects as targets and self-destructive acts as solutions.
- Feel left behind in a global economy? Throw some brown kids fleeing starvation in a cage. Feel better?
- Feel the system is fixed because financial scammers walk away rich while main street store fronts empty out? Elect a lifetime white collar criminal as President and cheer as he enriches himself at taxpayer expense. Tired of winning yet?
- Feel invisible because your town's hospitals died, public transport disappeared, schools disappeared? Vote for a Party that promises to take your health care away, kill public transportation, and cut school funding. That ought to help.
- Worried about family breakup due to economic stress and opioid addiction? Focus your rage on bathrooms and burkas. WWHH is your guide -- Who Would Hannity Hate.
Trump, Johnson, and their faux populist ilk are not the answer to ANY problem worth solving. Once you are done destroying all their scapegoats, you'll find the problems still exist but your soul is gone.
12
Yes. And they will lead the free world into submission.
2
Perhaps our only hope with #45, who is clearly in the final Stage 4 of acute terminal narcissistic psychosis, would be to medicate him as heavily as possible, mixing Brompton's cocktail with extra morphine, cocaine, alcohol and Thorazine into his daily milk shakes. This might put an end to his incessant tweets, as well as a merciful end to the worst president this country has ever suffered.
7
The current President is neither an aberration nor a symptom but simply a logical extension of where American politics has been tending the last twenty-five years. We're still one country in many if not most of the important ways but a country of 330 million is a bit more unruly than the US of my youth with a population around half that size. Geographical and ideological diversity in the extreme, combined with the typical periodic shocks of market capitalism and the swift introduction of new technologies, creates political volatility and uncertainty that governments been largely unable to address. Hence the devolution into extreme partisanship and a renewal of a kind of tribalism that has often run through American life. So hell, in the old existentialist trope, becomes the other. Or perhaps, for many people, both. In the latter situation better to simply be left alone. This explains why, circling back to our two subjects, an entertaining charlatan might be preferable to some humorless drudge who wants to expropriate you for the benefit of an illegal alien.
1
Yes, good luck with these two doughy donuts--they are all hole and no donut.
6
The elites with their conservative politics (cuts in social program, anti labor laws, cuts in health and education programs,...) which in my country we call neo-liberalism are the one who are created Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. In the USA we have now a con man pretending to be on the side of "the forgotten man". But when you look at Donald Trump you realize that he is doing politics supported by the elites:. cuts in education, social programs, nomination of pro Big Business and anti union judges, deregulation,... After all, who destroyed the social program put in place by FDR and LBJ? Who deregulated the banking industry making possible the 2008 collapse? A Democratic president William Jefferson Clinton. And without the vote of 12 Democratic Senators, Clarence Thomas would have never been on the Supreme Court and be one of the 5 votes which imposed right-to-work legislation on the public unions through the country. Boris Johnson will also work for the elite despite his demagogy.
3
Rodger, wrong, wrong, wrong. This is not what Boris Johnson, Donald Trump or others are doing to us, it is what we are doing to ourselves. Unless we are willing to take a long hard look at ourselves, to ask ourselves why are we allowing this, why we are so taken in by all this stuff, there is no possibility of change. Whether it is fear, anger, selfishness if doesn't matter, we have to first understand how we got here. Than, once we know what we are doing and why, we can ask ourselves if operating from these motivations are really given us, or will give us, what we say we want from life. Peace, family, love, happiness. This time is a gift, it is an offer to go inside and decide who are we and who we want to be. We have to stop blaming others and take responsibility for ourselves. Otherwise we may end up exactly where we're headed.
4
Add “Ignorance” and make it seven I’s.
Are Republicans really showing jellyfish spines, or is this who they’ve been for several decades? I keep thinking about the GOP’s use of racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, catering to the wealthiest, and wedding themselves to religious extremism. Perhaps jellyfish spines apply better to those Democrats, who drag their feet on impeachment due to election concerns and cave in (again and again) to Republican policy demands.
However, likening Trump’s inner despot to Dr. Strangelove’s arm (can’t stop it from constantly popping up) is absolutely PRICELESS. Trump’s despotic fantasies betray our democratic republic, more resembling a fascist theocracy than anything to which “a more perfect Union” aspires. Neither Trump nor Johnson (both wannabe dictators) are capable of leading the free world; they could only lead to its destruction.
11
Both Trump and Johnson are masters of disruption---they are really good at it---What they are really poor at is construction---that takes time, patience, intelligence--which both men totally lack. I thought maybe this was a temporary clinch in our political system, but, now take a different view. Similar to addiction, I believe we, as a nation, must hit rock bottom first---and Trump, each day, takes this nation closer to our Republics bottom. Only when we hit that bottom---without falling into a fascists state--can we begin curing ourselves of our addiction to bread and circuses.
7
I sure hope so!
I know nothing about Johnson. I also do not consider the English leaders of the free world. I do know that the dumpster fire we call a President is our worst Presidential iteration ever.
8
Not only does the fire have to be extinguished but the dumpster has to be
obliterated.
3
There is a story, several hundred years old, of our relationship with England. Yesterday we "attempted" to celebrate our Declaration of Independence from England's ruthless King George lll. Yet after becoming a nation unto itself and over the span of time, America had become the strongest ally of a long-ago enemy. We have become friends and politically intimate with our neighbors "across the pond." Enter Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, of the same ilk, two mildewed peas in a rotting pod. Oh, yes, we find ourselves still connected, do we not? But this new camaraderie is not unlike the bromances with Kim or Putin or even MBS. Destructive, corrupt, amoral, all about power and control. But, Mr. Cohen, this is really about the everyday citizen. In both countries, once proud democracies, the English and we Americans have done this to ourselves. Take a look at the telling photos taken yesterday by the Times' photographer Damon Winter. What you will see will be MAGA adults, their children and even infants, dressed in red, white, and blue. Smiling they are and cheering and paying homage to a person who is no better than a bigoted and racist showman. Trump's doughnut may have a big hole in it, but so do thousands of his supporters from his Senators to his Cabinet to his voters at large. The same can be said for Johnson and those who are "his."
8
Good insight. Well expressed. Thanks.
2
Without the hole, there is no doughnut—just a boiled pastry. It takes a Trump to mark persons of substance.
Roger,
You forgot about another “I” word...Impotence. This applies especially to our Congressional Republicans but also to every citizen who has sat back and fiddled while our democracy continues to burn.
5
We can always hope, can’t we?
You forgot one thing: the people want Trump and more for 2020 as PC madness, identity politics, hatred for America drives the left.
1
@Ray No, it was not the people but the Electorial College that got Trump elected. Clinton received 2.8 million more votes. Trump does not represent our country but a ignorant and foolish minority of the people who have been conned. This show will close down Nov 2020.
6
What about the liberal excesses that brought these two to the fore? They didn’t get here by themselves.
I stopped reading the newspaper for about a year because I couldn’t take the low quality anymore, after. this long hiatus, I came back today, Looks like nothing has changed.
What does one learn from reading this? What is actionable that wasn’t before?
1
My mother was a teacher and she was very fond of dispensing aphorisms. One of her favorite sayings was: “Birds of a feather flock together”. As a kid, I didn’t know what it meant. Now, of course as a grown man - I understand this phrase very well to the extent that I believe that Boris Johnson and Trump are like “Two Peas In a Pod”.
The similarities are uncanny. Like Trump, Johnson was born in New York. They also have a lot of physical resemblance starting with the bottle blond adventurous coiffures, corpulent physiques and a sartorial penchant for wearing boxy suits to conceal their bulging girths.
They are both “Shock Jock” provocateurs masquerading as politicians - full of bloviating bravado and braggadocio. I can’t wait to hear Johnson’s discursive diatribes and divisive demagoguery. EYE ROLL
Aren’t we lucky - now we will have “Political Reality Shows” on both sides of the pond. Oy Vey - meshuga continues
4
When I first read the headline, I thought that the Johnson was Lyndon. I'm a Democrat, Liberal variety, and the lies he told to get us into and then mired in the Vietnam War are as bad as anything Trump has lied about. At least Trump hasn't killed 40,000 G.I.'s, and hundreds of thousands of civilians...so far. But, there's still time, plus the bonus round of the environment!
4
The "march of folly" continues.
2
I thought that Britain had fought a 20 year war against Napoleon, a 4 year war against the Kaiser, and a 6 year war against Hitler (alone, for 2 of those years), in each case to prevent an undemocratic tyrant from dominating continental Europe. In the second of those epic conflicts in defence of European freedom and democracy, Britain and its Empire lost over a million men, without counting the huge numbers of severely wounded and permanently disabled. However, I am pleased to be enlightened by Cohen, with his superior historical knowledge, and no doubt experience of combat, that Britain joined “Europe” only when it entered the Common Market (now branded the EU) in 1973.
Will it still be the "free world?"
1
"I alone".
Impeachable.
The eyes have it but the ayes don't. Such is the state of we in the world of "I".
2
In his 1996 book, The Value of Life, Stephen Kellert warned us “the fabric of planetary life is under siege as vast expressions of creation are ripped from their evolutionary mooring by varying combinations of greed, arrogance, and apathy.” Greed, arrogance, and apathy, the three purveyors of today’s environmental crisis evoke the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse described in the Book of Revelation. Today’s modern yet eternal forth purveyor, inspired by singer/song writer John Prine’s understated passage “Jealously and stupidity, don’t equal harmony,” is, alas, stupidity. “Cowboy diplomacy,” a phrase used by critics to describe the resolution of international conflicts through brash risk-taking, intimidation, military deployment, or a combination of such tactics. In this case, “cowboy,” connoting an overly simple, black and white worldview, intentionally replaces the somber gravitas conveyed by the term “horseman.” And so, “ The Four Cowboys of the Apocalypse” devolved from the Biblical Four Horsemen to reflect today’s predicament and are mirrored in the two so-called leaders of the free world.
2
The hair! It has to have something to do with the hair!
2
We are living through Animal House II, with Douglas C. Neidermeyer as President of the U.S. and Bluto Blutarsky as soon-to-be Prime Minister of the U.K.
It would be funny if it wasn't serious.
5
You forgot a small detail. The natural cruelty of humans. We’ve been taught to fight and possibly destroy our “dark side”, because only the “light” deserves to survive. But we are made of both. We can’t kill half of what we are. We “hate” the “haters”, oh the irony. It’s hatred anyway. Trump and Johnson and all their peers, are our dark side reclaiming its place in the world, if we like it or if we don’t. And we must recognize and face this truth. Humans are desperately in need of a good shrink.
3
How “doable” is getting rid of Donald Trump, Mr. Cohen, when 40% of Americans believe in him? With Mitch McConnell holding the door of the upper chamber open for the president’s spurious proposals and a Supreme Court standing by to validate his every whim as the John Roberts Court, pretzel-like, contorts itself into unbelievable shapes so as to confirm any Trumpian tenet into law?
I don’t care about Boris Johnson; he’s the UK’s problem. A “regular” or “normal” American president after 2020—assuming it’s not Donald Trump—might go some way toward mitigating a Johnson prime ministership. We’ve got enough problems with “ammonia hair” (thanks, Maureen Dowd). He’s trying to run over—not around—SCOTUS as we speak.
The president is the snake charmer; MAGA nation was lost and lonely before Candidate Trump piped his mesmerizing melodies. The threads of our democracy are obviously coming loose, and 40% of the United States thrills to his touch. His ignorance of history and alliances and war and peace is as large as the hole in the center of the doughnut. And with the president and the Republican Senate and Fox News to deposit all manner of uncleanliness through the small opening above the fan, can there be any mystery as to why it’s all over us?
5
The snake oil salesman couldn’t exist without shills and rubes.
3
‘Principled politicians’ may be one of the world’s most blatant oxymorons.
1
"two charlatans and narcissists with flimsy notions of the truth, utterly unprincipled, given to racist slurs, skilled practitioners of the politics of spectacle, manipulators of fear, nationalist traffickers in an imaginary past of radiant greatness, fabulists of reborn glory, with giant holes at their centers where conscience and integrity went missing." I find repeated reading of this paragraph oddly soothing?
3
We, the People, are being “led” by a diagnosable Sociopathic Personality Disorder. Trump is beyond Treatment....We are
in Need of it. As a of his Sociopathic condition, he is actually Enjoying his occupation of our Center Of Attention.
Meanwhile, hisel
4
Lotta lead there...some call it leadership. If you call falling into a ditch being lead
4
Well put, Mr. Cohen.
2
One of the characteristics of the liberal mind is an enormous amount of self-deception...
So Boris and Donald, base their power not on six I's that somehow befuddled two good societies into dumbness, but in a single R, that of Racism, and in a white core that rather wants to keep their privilege, even if this means the end of democracy.
2
No - but Trump will.
There are maybe two more “I’s”. Ignorance (the voluntary self-satisfied kind), and I itself.
Decades ago was the “Me Generation), the time of TV’s “Dallas”, “Dynasty” and “Falcon Crest”. It would be interesting to see if the Donald was addicted to these melodramatic business meets family meets sex series. Before cable, what else would catch his fantasy eye? He mirrors their morals and lack there of, and the gilty excesses.
Ignorance is bliss, and not that hard to work at. Very easy to just not think, not question, not use any discretion. That’s what it takes to tolerate the doings of this oligarch and the cabal around him.
3
I agree with Mr Cohen but find these highly abstracted columns, à la David Brooks, tend to obscure the realities we need to know and be reminded.
The last paragraph was the whole point, the lede if you will: Trump and Johnson are the chancre not the syphilis driving the world mad.
1
Mr Cohen forgot the One M: Murdoch.
3
At the same time, the most compelling, depressing, insightful, and hopeful piece on Trump that I have read in many months.
Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
Trump is a symptom and a cause. His personal corruption is a massive (but relevant) distraction from his out-sized effect on the public space now, enabled by Republican elites and channeling some of our worst but understandable impulses of resentment for what has happened in our society these last fifty years.
The "six I's" are deeply important to understanding where we are, and how we might find a better path.
5
Kind of looks like "two charlatans and narcissists with hollow centers will lead the free world".
Apparently it is what the people want, or in the case of the United States its what the Electoral College wants.
1
Trump and Boris Johnson "rotten to the core." I get it. What troubles me is that both men apparently are where they are because they have built successful political coalitions. Trump is lavishly praised and exalted by his base, which looks like it is in the neighborhood of one third of the U.S. population maybe larger. Unless public disclosures are truly disastrous for Trump between now and November 2020 and or the U.S. economy begins to sink, Trump has a chance of eking out a victory.
So his presumed failure and disgrace in January 2021 is not a foregone conclusion, even though both I and Roger Cohen and countless millions desperately hope and believe that is where we will be 18 or 19 months from today. We can blast Trump for incompetence and much worse but he still has his base. It looks like they will never desert him. So the Democrats have to united. In Great Britain, I assume something similar is necessary for the anti-Brexit and anti-Tory coalition which I also assume probably considers itself at least ten times smarter than the pro-Brexit phillistines. The phillistines, howver, are not without hope or resources.
2
The empty suit, all hat and no cattle, hollow man, all foam and no beer, the emperor has no clothes. These are all apt metaphors for these two frauds, but the doughnut hole is especially appropriate. As Trump, Jr. has said, the only color his father cares about is green, as in “dough,” and everything surrounding the vacuous center is as bad for one as its nonexistent, unsubstantial interior. To put it differently, the emptiness of Trump’s hollow core corrupts everything surrounding it. Junk man as junk food for a nation addicted to empty calories, its ethical and moral center being slowly and steadily carved out as we speak.
2
Mr Cohen's assessment of the two exhibitionistic, divisive charlatans aside, I choose the current Brexit mess unfolding within a Democratic construct any day, over Europe's propensity for brutality against itself. Yes, Germany, France, Britain, Spain and their Europen counterparts, are so much better off seeking resolution of what divides them within their civilized houses of Parliament, than replicating the traditions of their mindless, war mongering ancestors. I believe, that a resilient Democracy can eventually overcome the transient, vacuous rhetoric of Draft Dodger Trump and Arm Chair Boris.
2
On two occasions Johnson showed up to give a speech and gave none. He just stood there, mute. He was roundly applauded. Not for keeping his mouth shut, but for having the audacity not to care that he didn't know what to say. At one he actually did say the few words, "Why am I here." If Donald Trump were to shut his mouth and twitter feed, there would be wild applause for the sheer relief it would give us.
3
I would add as a French man that a doughnut is very bad and unhealthy pastry .Heavy and sugary. If you eat one per day (you'd have to pay me to eat one ) you end up looking like Trump and Johnson with a bouee around the belly. As if you have a croissant, light fluffy pastry , you still walk like Macron.
But it is more the taste that defines a nation. People who like doughnuts and hamburgers cannot be mentally very refined .
They have heavy, thick and sugary cultures .With a hole in the middle.
3
What strikes me in considering Cohen's six I's, is another, Indifference. Our indifference is rooted in the heated rhetoric of politicians who claim the game: the election, the economy is rigged. Trump played on this and his popularity soared to heights that ultimately landed him in the White House. Sanders, playing from the same hymnal, likewise was the most popular, outsider candidate running within a party he does not belong to.
The damage to political parties that Cohen laments is self-inflicted. Here, both parties had become tools of the elites Republicans embraced enthusiastically and Democrats decried with a wink, nod, and open palm.
The center cannot hold when its core becomes a donut hole stagnant and crumbling. When the center loses hope for economic security and a decent balance of work and leisure, faith in the institutions of governance becomes a target of corrupt carnies promising miracles if we all just let them handle the reins without interference. Nature abhors a vacuum, and in our politics, Sully's donut hole is being filled with rancid cream.
1
Thank you! Your analysis is brilliant. That’s what the Democratic Party should use as their platform for the future of not only The United States of America, but our Planet!
2
Certainly with Trump, narcissistic charlatan is an accurate characterization ... though words seem hardly enough for the sake of descriptive sufficiency. As for Johnson in comparison: in my view, there is simply no way he exceeds Trump along this line, Trump taking depravity to new lows almost every single day. But this is the thing: these individuals are strongly supported and wanted as leaders by the citizens they are to represent and serve. To put it another way: this critical column about Trump and Johnson is really more about those who have allowed for them than it is about them in the primary sense. Getting rid of Trump and forsaking Johnson as leaders of USA and UK, respectively, may not be, unfortunately, remedy for the dire situation at hand ... which is not dire for many at all.
The one thing I have observed about doughnuts and their holes. Right after coming out of the fryer, they are uniformly full of hot air. And hot air rises causing other air to rush in to fill the void. This gives the doughnut an outsized importance for a time but after cooling, balance is restored.
Trump and Johnson will cool as well and few can now see what might follow.
1
Roger, your six "i's" are very apt. Inequality is real and seems to be becoming a permanent fixture with the ability of the very wealthy to commandeer elections through massive campaign contributions. Illegal immigration contributes to this by creating a workforce that has no standing or leverage to ask for a decent wage or protection against abuse, thus eroding wages for the majority of workers, particularly the 63% without college degrees.
My fear, as a Democrat, is that we will once again ignore the white working class, who will then re-elect Trump. The candidates in opening debates appeared to support "open borders" and welcome the huge surge in unfortunate people from Central America. Every candidate endorsed the idea of offering free medical care to illegals while many Americans struggle with this issue. Additionally, the crucial moment in the second debate was when Senator Harris indirectly accused Biden of being a racist. Virtually every white male in the workplace has been branded as such and most unfairly.
As feckless as Trump's tariff and border wars have been, he appears to be fighting for white working class people. They seem to remain invisible to the Democratic Party.
2
“When good men do nothing...”
In the case of both the U.S. and Britain, it was too many voters staying home rather than vote for imperfect candidates or ideas.
3
"The West stands for nothing. Or, at most, it stands for the threat of tariffs."
Money and power is what the West stands for. Any immoral or illegal activity is justified as long as the next deal as the result of the deal is a winning transaction (obviously not in chronological order):
The Russian vote transaction
The Khashoggi murder transaction
The love letter transaction.
The very fine people transaction.
The murderers and rapists transaction.
The not my type transaction
The China pays the tariffs transaction
The Garland transaction
The birther transaction
The pizza parlor transaction
The defy the SOCTUS transaction
The build the wall transaction
The lying transactions
We've now reached the penultimate:
The Executive order for anything I darn well please transaction
What's the last act?
4
For the last three weeks in June, my wife and I had the opportunity to be in close, daily proximity with a number of British citizens in Northern Europe.
We all came to early agreement that the disturbing success of a serial liar and racist like Boris Johnson in the U.K. was no more surprising that the ascendancy of a serial liar and racist like Donald Trump in America.
Although the people we dined, toured and drank with are more prosperous than the average Brit, it became apparent that the problem of acceptance of a scoundrel as a leader in America and also in Britain is not one of economic class.
Johnson and Trump – two peas in a pod – appeal to people who read little, travel little and resent greatly having to rub shoulders with neighbors who look and sound different. Brits living in the countryside, we were told, are more susceptible to the siren’s song of victimhood sung by Boris Johnson than those living in and around London.
That explanation of rural unrest mirrors the pattern of admiration for Donald Trump in America, although racism and ignorance never fit neatly into districts.
It is comforting to know that a nation with which America had a special relationship in fighting tyrants in the last century still has citizens who recognize the dangers we both now face.
3
There is a major difference in the circumstances that these two clowns operate.
Trump heads a rich country that can afford to call the shots (less so perhaps with China at its heals but still a force to be reckon with).
Johnson would lead a country that was Great until the end of WW1 and has refused to accept that it is now a middle power at best. A hard Brexit may very well cause more damage but the Brits would still refuse to see it.
It is striking how similar Brexit and Trumpism are. Trump and Johnson are the dimwitted vehicles. Their "movements" had similar behind the scenes "brains": Farage for Johnson and Bannon for Trump. And their populist appeals are both underpinned by immigration.
Finally, Putin has orchestrated much of this by promoting policies and actions (in South America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Europe) that resulted in large migrations of people into the US and the EU/UK that threaten traditional controls and economic stability.
The awful truth is that by electing Trump and Johnson, the US and UK are guaranteeing that the reasons for their "success" will continue and get worse.
2
We need to treat Trump and the 2016 presidential election as a misfire, plain and simple.
We have had close elections before - Bush / Gore in 2000 was perhaps the worst example in recent history - but even then, we acknowledged we needed to move ahead and get to work as a functioning society.
DJT was elected because for whatever reason, about 80K Democrats didn't bother to vote in three states. It was quite unlikely to happen - so unlikely that DJT was completely unprepared to take the reins of government.
Let's make sure in 2020 this doesn't happen again: Pledge to help your local Democratic party ensure high turnout and vote this administration, its moronic hangers-on, and its sycophantic enablers like Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan out of office - *forever*.
2
This article may be dated soon, and other names fill these pages--for Trump is increasingly demented. Only the facts that he began with a bizarre personality and that we have been inured to his outrageous speech are hiding it at all. His statements now contain egregious errors and delusions not because he is funny or stupid, but because he can do no better. The effort taken to perform his recent reading of the July 4 speech was no doubt profound. And it's not a quiet dementia--but active, with paranoid and perhaps now psychotic features. We respond with jokes, sneers, memes-- but the sickness is swallowing the man in front of us. This may be why Pence was called to stay in DC, and this is progressive. I don't think its nature and danger can be hidden much longer. Nor that he will be able to run for office in 2020. He will have to be kept out of the public eye and from demented decisions in order to remain. But his belligerent nature and love of power will make that unlikely. He is on his way out. As to how this will alter things, I have no idea. But it might be well to start considering that question.
4
Sadly, it is the case: two charlatans and demagogues will lead a part of the free world.
2
A brilliant article and 200 percent true. Thank you.
1
"Leader of the free world"-- what quaint terminology. In this part of the "free world" we have a leader who puts himself above the law, is incapable of honoring or engaging in rational debate, vilifies the press in the language of despots, takes refugee children from their parents and pens them in cages to feed ethnic fear and hatred, fawns over murderous tyrants, spits on democratic allies, identifies loyalty to the country with mafia-like loyalty to himself, mindlessly glorifies military might, debases his followers and our culture, despoils the country and sabotages its future for his own personal enrichment and power. Leaver of the free world is more like it.
1
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other kingdom
Remember us - if at all - not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot
2
Wow only an American or a Brit could be arrogant enough to call the combination of their two countries “the free world.”
There are a lot of other democratic leaders out there, bud. Trumpism and Bojoism are the logical outgrowths of Reaganism and Thatcherism and afflict just two nations - one small and one medium-sized - which have a delusionally outsized view of their importance in world affairs.
1
As usual, well said. With regards to the American “experiment” it is is kaput, finished, done, over, adios. Better to look to the future for a system that deals with the i’s. Regional confederations might be the ticket. But I am pretty sure, with the exception of biology, I have have nothing in common with the average rube in Bama, Ole Miss or my ole Kentucky home.
1
Mr. Cohen's column makes only one thing clear: that he adamantly opposes Brexit -- it's one of the holes in his doughnut. Hence, his dismay at Boris Johnson who, to quote Mr. Cohen, would ruin one of the "greatest satisfactions" of Cohen's life. BTW, Cohen never explains why Britain's original joining into the EU would create such a satisfaction for Cohen, other than that he apparently views the EU as the triumph of globalism.
And Trump appears to be another hole in Cohen's doughnut.
Truly, an incoherent column.
In addition, all the lacunae (holes) in Trump’s mind are being filled by Putin. The secret unrecorded two hour meetings between Trump and Putin could credibly be Putin coaching Trump on his own road toward coreless authoritarianism.
3
One way to get rid of the rotted doughnut is to throw it away. In both cases, on both sides of the Atlantic, people need to vote these bozos out of office. If that is not enough they can take to the streets and do what the people of Hong Kong are doing. Protesting and voting works. Being complacent does not.
2
Trump is not the leader of the free world. He is not even the leader of a majority of Americans. And Boris Johnson is equally a joke. The dictators in Russia, China and North Korea can hardly contain their glee as these two clowns destroy what is left of the postwar western alliance their predecessors nurtured so carefully.
2
Let me add two more “I”s.
It is “Invincible” - leads to Make America Great Again. We were great before and I will make us great again.
It is “Inevitable” - the world will have to meet us where we are. Tariffs, trade deal, Iran deal.
Congratulations to Putin. When he realized he could not destroy the west with bombs, he chose our own base instincts to do it from within.
2
Its unfathomable. As I watch Boris, aptly known as Mr Blobby after a 1980's pink spotted and bumbling TV character who caused nothing but chaos; I feel horror and anguish in equal measure. Cohen talks of how can this be? Yes there are the 6 I's but there were also other factors even more disturbing. Call them the 3 S's: Self indulgence, self satisfaction and selfishness. These are levelled at the Tory electorate for caring more about themselves than society at large. Having done very well in life, theirs is for keeps, a retirement not of giving back but one of being pampered.
In the case of Boris, the prince of lies and ineptitude, the civics of our land who represent Tory members cast all common sense and caution aside to inflict this entity upon us. Talking tosh, living like a rake and dressed like someone who sleeps under a bridge with the teeth to go with. Less than 100,000 will vote for the jerk. Clearly our system reeks.
So instead of just one dictator there are now two. It's all very well trying to rationalize the cause of how can this be? We have to accept both nations are being destroyed from within by vested wealth and corruption. To fight and prevail we have to face the truth about them, ourselves and others. It is not enough to laugh at the idiocy of it all, their questionable lifestyles, and family dysfunction. The danger is real and neither men should hold office. Our job, to work hard to get them out before they commit more crimes against humanity.
2
I wonder if the Gong Show and/or Monty Python could have prevented this.
2
Trump and Johnson are catering to their people's aspirations. They are acting within the system. The people do not want their societies destabilized by massive and illegal immigration of people who do not subscribe to their traditional values. Pundits like Roger may think that massive immigration is good, but the people know better.
41
@Alex E I could easily name a dozen political leaders who became outright dictators or pretend democrats acting within the system. You can discuss immigration policy without all the vitriol. Some conservatives even have the gall to claim that Obama deported more illegal immigrants than his predecessor. Trump is just a privileged old man who got away with too much all his life and happens to be good at rabble rouser.
226
@Alex E nowhere does Roger claim that massive immigration is good. He does however assume that an administration should provide true data and effective humane solutions to the immigration issue. If you aspire to inhumanity and cruelty, ie people in over-crowded cells, children being separated from their families at the border, and more, then you are well served by Trump. If you like being lied to, then again Trump caters to your aspirations. And so will Boris.
195
@Alex E, please think carefully about what you just said--that Trump is acting within the system.
Trump is destroying democratic norms like transparency and public accountability. He is completely obstructing the House's ability to perform oversight. As described in the Mueller report--and confirmed by Barr in his Senate hearing--Trump is attempting to jail his political opponents. He's still trying to put Hillary Clinton in prison, and now he thinks he can put John Kerry behind bars. He would like to punish agents at the FBI and CIA who participated in the Russia investigation.
He has destroyed the independence of the Justice Department, turning the Attorney General into his personal stooge. He has decapitated the leadership of the FBI and Justice Department. He calls the free press the enemy of the people. He regularly leads public spectacles where his followers cheer his lawlessness and cruelty.
Even in his use of language ("Deep State") Trump echoes dictators like Putin and Erdogan, whom he publicly admires. He sees nothing wrong with accepting help from Russia in 2020. He saw nothing wrong with it in 2016.
You're watching a would-be dictator who doesn't respect democratic rules. He's using a straw man to draw you in--open borders. Nobody believes in open borders, including Roger Cohen. It's a lie Trump uses to demagogue his followers.
440
Britain if you’re listening: Please look at the disastrous and dangerous person the US elected and don’t make the same mistake. Please. The free world and democracy are at stake.
4
It reads like it - a Greek tragedy. Or notes on it. What chills me is its sense of inevitability. Both the EU and the US were historically
unlikely events. That they happened at all is something of a miracle, and the very real possibility of their imminent ends tragicomic.
7
This moment in the history of 2 big democracies had better be a learning moment. Democracy is like a marriage - it takes a lot of work to keep it going; otherwise it falls apart.
We've been taking our democracies for granted. A representative democracy is, by definition, a functioning legislature. Neither the US nor Britain has one. Capitalism is only possible if those who control capital consider the interests of the community as a whole. That concept is now so ridiculous, it seems quaint. Finally, a electorate, diverse in occupation, interests, and background, needs some common grounding in education, information, and values.
The enlightenment, which was the inspiration for the US, has run its course. Absent inspiration, it's going to take a lot of perspiration to make democracy work again in the US and Britain.
4
I guess Roger didn’t do anything on the Fourth of July, which celebrates another flavor of the No-Deal Brexit.
1
Re: "Here’s why, in the name of America First nationalism, he went about trashing the multilateral postwar order America had forged."
While I generally accept Mr. Cohen's presentation of the I's, in this case, I would aver that Trump's not only trashing the postwar order, but proactively damaging all of our relationships with our allies, is not the result of the I's, but a case of Trump following Putin's directions.
It is heartening that more and more observers in the media are using the word "treason," but it is disheartening that so many others refuse to use that word.
How much clearer can it be that Trump has acted, and continues to act, to benefit Russia (Putin) at the expense of the United States?
8
You can not have a true democracy unless the electorate (ideally all of them, but at least the majority) are fairly well educated and capable of critical appraisal. Socrates said it and several of the comments in reply to this piece say the same.
Ignorance is used by the manipulators of the media (Murdoch et al.) to retain a strangle hold over opinion. That opinion is then molded to fit the desired narrative.- Trump and Johnson are the leaders you want and need.
9
Don’t forget money, while not beginning with I, that our legistators can now say openly, I voted for this (unfair and destructive tax) bill “to pay back my donors.). Have you notice in reporting about elections, the first thing mentioned about candidates is the size of their war chests?
And, that leads us to the Supreme Court that has enabled money and partisanship to invade its decisions. Now Trump looks on the brink of disregarding their decision in the Census. The sad part is that 4 justices think the end justifies the means and lying to the court, to Congress is just fine. (Lying to us has become such routine, it’s not even mentioned.)
9
Interestingly both men come from relatively recent immigrant families and Trump, in particular, has married immigrants and employed them. What’s good for the goose...
This was a clearly written and easy to recall opinion piece. And sadly, it seems to ring very true.
14
The Is don’t have it, the world’s getting done in by the big C—capitalism. Cohen’s too-short list of maladies are just metastases of the most malignant, destructive disease on the planet.
4
My wife and I are planning a European vacation this fall, but want to stay away from hostile countries.
I guess we can forget England.
5
Two peas in a pod. Two Dictators of the free world.
9
What makes these two even more troublesome is that they have gained power at the worst possible time. As huge chunks of our planet eaten away by global warming, you can only hang your head and say bon voyage.
20
Say what you will about Trump, at least he knows how to shave.
1
@vbering. Strokes, in golf.
3
Almost as bad a pairing as the horrendous G.W. Bush and his lapdog Blair.
Nothing changes. Ever.
4
The problem is that in the eyes of their respective bases, both Trump and Johnson are not doughnuts with holes - they are the tasty munchkins.
6
Yeah and they both have bad hair.
3
This column relates directly to what the Democrats must do if they are to evict this wannabe king.
But first, we must consider what they must NOT do: demonstrate faux outrage against Trump. If all the Democrats can muster is a repetition of the "he's bad for the country" talking points, without the force that, for example, Cohen's column attains, then there is a very realistic chance he wins again. This is a monumental task: to present a clear and powerful indictment of Trumpism, its harm to the country, and its prospects for the future. Because if it were so easy, it would have been done already.
Eye-rolling about Trump is passe. Crying about an eventual dictator is derided as hyperbole. Annoyance about his fecklessness has fallen upon deaf ears.
No, with the skill of a highly-charged prosecutor going after a first-degree murder verdict, the candidate must TEACH the American people why he is truly bad for the country - if in fact it can be shown. Because Trump will trumpet the stock market, praise his embrace for dictators with cries for a Nobel, and argue strenuously for his place on Mt. Rushmore.
If the Democrats cannot present an emotional and logical evisceration of the current WH occupant, then the sheer force of his personality will try to sell us another four years...and is a real threat to achieve it.
10
Trump is in many ways quintessentially American. There is a long line of demogogues, racists, and con men in American culture.
8
The two men are a testament to the power of racism and white privilege.
11
That's a dumb question...it ain't like humanity has shown any growth since the days of the 3rd Reich. I could argue that the average person is dumber than ever and ready to be lead by evil leaders again (always?). I'd argue this means Democracy, usurped by corporations, is about as bad as any other idea.
9
It is to be remembered that Russia supported Trump and Johnson as part of their goal to split and make Europe weak. Unfortunately this is also the agenda of the Brexit-Johnson and Breitbart Trump. These prominent fascists support the right wingers in Europe like Marine LePen in France. It is so sad that we do not learn from history. Not long ago Europe was destroyed by Hitler and Mussolini. England fought the fascists for a long time alone and it so tragic that it now will have a fascist leading the country.
7
I would warn those who think Johnson is so much smarter then Trump: despite the advantages of a public school education (very small classes, lots of friends from influential families etc) he only got a 2nd class degree at Oxford, where learning conditions are extremely favorable (had he gone to a state-run school he would most likely not have got past the door of any good British university). The better word to describe him would perhaps be "cunning". That's what he and Trump really have in common: while they diverge in that Trump tends to stumble from one door to another, hoping to find one he can push open and get through, while Johnson is just waiting for his chance.
Of course we should not assume that the rest of the world is so much better: China, South America, Russia, Indonesia,are all effectively ruled by dictators. In the Arab world (where the oil flows) the sheiks make Xi Jinping look like a benevolent despot. But we are talking here about two nations which have long been touted as champions of democracy and justice. Ironic, is it not, that countries like Germany and the Netherlands were once rescued from Hitler's fascist grasp and are now trying to save Europe (and Britain) from its fate? Let us hope, meanwhile, that Rome does not burn while Johnson and Trump are fiddling ...
13
Maybe America is rotten to the core — racist as ever, awash in guns and violence, worship of all things military, love of wealth, no super, super wealth, indifferent to the plight of minority children languishing in inferior schools, represented by Congress people who spend far more time trolling for dollars than working for the common good, besotted and distracted by the internet. Like this post, irony noted. Maybe a country rotten at its core elected a rotten president.
22
I got a kick out of how ny governor Andrew Cuomo was reviled when he said something like, America was not always so great, after all the Maga hat garbage. I agreed with him. I guess I should have sent him a tweet, but I don't know how to do it. let's start with the Indian massacres, the residential schools and I just learned that frank baum, author of "the wonderful wizard of Oz" said it would be better if all Indians died rather than, "live as the miserable wretches they are" thanks David Treuer in his new book,"the heartbreak of wounded knee"and that was only on page 8,,then Chinese railway workers deported,then slavery then Japanese internment, then the St Louis, Sending jews back to die in concentration camps. if I forgot anyone, forgive me.. would be nice to make America great.
2
Brilliant!
4
“What did I ever do to deserve Boris Johnson?”
--- What poor Queen Elizabeth is asking herself these days.
9
An astute analysis of how Trump floated to the surface of a political outhouse. Don't misunderstand. The metaphor of the outhouse is not an allusion to Trump's supporters, it is a reference to the Republican Party leaders who are no better than Trump and in fact much worse.
Consider:
Trump is a con artist whose greatest skill is reading the gullibility of the disillusioned then lying about his lies and ignorance. He has spent his life doing that and he has perfected his scamming skills.
Trump has a small brain, a big ego and a desperate need for attention. He doesn't know airplanes and airports did not exist at the time of the American Revolution, but on July 4th he celebrated George Washington's use of airplanes to defeat the British. He didn't know what he was talking about but he was, as always, desperate for attention and rattled on with his lies and nonsense.
Nevertheless, Trump supporters believe this multiple bankruptcy-filing fool is a great business man. Why? Because he tells them he is and they are desperate to believe him. So desperate that they are now a dangerous mob.
But consider Republicans in Congress. Most are actually intelligent and educated. They are not blundering, ignorant fools like Trump. So the fact that they have deliberately worked to ruin the American middle class and enrich the wealthy means that they are contemptible, immoral, hypocritical, self-serving traitors of the American people. Whereas Trump is merely their useful idiot.
30
The shared opinion here is that Boris Johnson is what you get when you send Donald Trump to Eton.
343
@Susan Tinsley
We call that 'putting lipstick on a pig.'
27
@Susan Tinsley
Trump could not get into Eaton.
27
Were Boris Johnson and Donald Trump separated at birth?
8
To AlNewman: Just give the man time. This is an ignorant, unschooled, vengeful man in the White House. The effects are coming.
12
Nothing + Nothing = Nothing
8
You could replace the six "I"s with a single "B" that both Trump and Johnson have in common:
Bannon.
7
You are correct that this pair of dunderheads is a symptom of an underlying disease in our society. However, it does no good to treat the symptoms without treating the underlying disease.
The disease in this case is inequality brought on by greed of the elite class that has allowed them to control the levers of government by buying off governing bodies via paid lobbyists and brainwashed SCOTUS. These parasitic elites are after our democracy. They are replacing it with a royalty based theocracy that requires the majority of citizens to be serfs, not actively engaged and voting citizens.
These parasites need to be removed by deworming with an organized voting electorate. That is the only cure. Taking a couple of aspirin is not going to get rid of the disease of greed, avarice and narcissism. Get out and vote these morons out of office.
14
I don't think pigs like acorns . . . a blind squirrel does, though! Your column is spot on. The underlying truth that's so nauseating and depressing is that large swaths of people vote for these cretins . . .
6
What did the citizens of American and Britain (actually the whole world) do to deserve these two disgusting human beings?
7
Mr. Johnson, if elected, should sail the U. K. across the Atlantic and dock it next to Mar -a-Largo. They will find sustenance there gazing at their navels. Europe will be free and the U. S. can annex the swamp of Shangrilah. Only by freeing ourselves of these wannabe children, can we get back to living in a unified world.
4
The Triumph of Ignorance and Stupidity best describes this era in politics. Morally stupid and ignorant men, blithely unaware of their failings, indeed convinced of their superior cleverness, have come out beating their chests in a laughable display of mindless bravado, believing they are natural born leaders. And enough people are stupid enough to follow them off the cliff.
Yes, I know it not done to dismiss voter’s choices, but it is just plain stupid to vote in men who are lying to you and pretend to have simple answers to complex problems. Boris and Donald epitomize the arrogance of ignorance.
12
Welcome to the club, Roger. Where were you in 2015 and 2016 when the GOP coven elected a chief warlock.
2
Too much personality politics.
A few questions unexamined by Mr. Cohen.
Are you saying that the EU is a safe and stable system that the British leave at their peril?
Are there no signs that the EU is filled with factions constantly engaged in economic and legislative power struggles and on the verge of collapse?
Ask the Greeks how they were treated by the Germans during their economic crisis.
Is there no European north south divide with the mercantilist Germans a ruling the roost and enjoying a valuta far below what their economy deserves and the Mediterranean countries taking the currency hindmost?
Are you saying that giving up on British parliamentary democracy is a small price to pay for the ability to participate powerlessly in the EU fiasco?
2
Seems I recall that the Greek elite refused to give up their sweet spot and pay their taxes.
1
@Gub
Oh my, it was not just the Greek "elite".
There is much more to the picture.
Who are the really corrupt parties?
Yes, the Greek elite did agree to accept the bribes offered by German military manufacturers for equipment the Greece neither needed nor could afford. The Germans knew from the beginning.
It was just that German industry needed foreign customers even if the sellers knew the customers could not really pay for what was being sold.
How very nice for the German banks to extend loans they knew Greece could not repay.
And, how nice that the German government, against EU rules, could transfer Greek debt to private German banks to the likes of Deutsch Bank, to the German government.
And now, the corrupt Deutsche Bank, is in a frightful state, having lost more than 90% of its market value and after having to pay huge fines for having engaged in money laundering in the US.
You be the judge of who have been more corrupt.
2
Who will elect the biggest jerk of all time to end history, England or the USA?
8
@Steve Bolger
Both nations are already speaking in tongues. The rest of the discourse is rhetorical semantics. But both of these "doughnut holes" are enraptured by the press. Between the lines, the U.S. press has seen a rebirth of profit and will stick with the donald. I don't know about boris, but Brexit is the money maker for the British press
1
Mr Cohen, as always, thank you for a brilliant take.
Boris Johnson is a boor, uncouth, slap-dash glam of Oxbridge accent, that brit charm, which in his case, is almost nauseating... he is the last of the so-called Eton boys' club to which David Cameron belonged as well.
Full of elitist entitlement, clueless about the reality of middle classes and distinct echoes of past colonialism.
And...
They still want him to be the PM.
Despite everything Trump has done, there is a distinct 40% of American population who... yes, still want him.
It beggars belief.
It beggars one's faith in goodness, decency, and plain common sense.
A small incident of BJ reciting (colonial era poem) Road to Mandalay inside a Myanmar Temple, in front of his hosts, when British Ambassador reprimands him...
no, Not appropriate.
There! That's what Boris Johnson is, in a nut-shell.
12
Whatever else he thought of Maude Gonne, Yeats couldn't handle her because she would 'hurl the little streets upon the great." It is hard for democracies to admit, but there is such a thing as a blind mob. The best of our early rulers on all sides of all questions comprehended this simple fact. Jefferson was willing to throw them a little blood, until, in the Missouri Crisis of 1820 he "trembled for my country when I remember God is just." On this he agreed with the snarly old Puritans, his would-be enemies, the Adamses. In Trump and Johnson the rabble have their heroes and their imposture of national greatness. Their sons and daughters will pay the price for their follies and so will a lot of truly innocent people before this masquerade has done its worst. The true sons and daughters of Jefferson and the Adamses are divided, blind, and at the moment impotent. And yet, I am used to the Sahara of the Bozart. I inhabit it and I know its inhabitants. I cannot comprehend the nation of Pitt, Gladstone and Churchill submitting to this kind of idiocy. On Second Thought, yes I can comprehend it all. I remember Tony Blair, after all, sucking up to American idiocy. Maybe we have infected the Brits. God help us all.
8
As you travel through life, keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole, was the motto of the old Mayflower Coffee shops in Manhattan.
A great motto when selling skimpy products to the consumer, but not very rewarding to the buyer.
How did it come to this? It’s about power. And money—for the few. The criminal Republican Party began its resolute turn towards power under Nixon. Values and morality were important only in so far as they produced votes and power. Something the Democrats have not yet understood is that’s its only about gaining and holding onto power — and money.
17
Politics in the US and UK are orchestrated by a narrow subset of corporate interests. Tories want to turn Britain into a mini US. They know the only way their country can survive out of the EU but right next to it as a competitor, is by becoming a fiscal pariah. It’s the part of the story the British people haven’t been told about yet. EU imposed protections of nature, worker health and safety, product quality (2y warranty, CE label) and safety, food chain, healthcare, ... can all be deregulated when they’re out.
18
This is the most succinct analysis of the situation I’ve come across since November, 2016. So, now, what can we do about it?
18
@Pundette
What can you do about it? VOTE!
Trump won the 2016 election only because lots of folks did not vote. Trump had fewer votes in 2016 than Obama in 2012, but Clinton, in the places that mattered, had fewer than Trump. The lesson is clear -- folks did not vote.
3
You point out that while the Tories have become Brexit-fixated, Republicans have become Trump-intoxicated. There is a salient difference, Brexit is a political/economic policy which is subject to debate, amendment, cancelation, even referendum. Trump is merely a passing fad which will automatically self-destruct in 2020 or 2024.
7
@Lewis Sternberg
Trump is not the real problem. Trump may be, as you say, a passing fad but the real problem is the 40% of the U.S. population that supports him. That is not a passing fad and it will damage the U.S. for a long time to come.
55
Bingo. Trump is a symptom. His odious form of vote gathering will outlast him, I'm afraid.
Excellent piece of work by Roger...as is often his practice.
"Trump...is the symptom." As to what is the disease, we're directed to the six I's he identifies. Impunity, Immigration, Internet, Invisibility, Inequality and Inversion.
If I were to try and break it down a little more I'd say life has gotten very complicated and it's more difficult to "keep up." If you can't keep up you become less effective as an economic and political actor. You feel unable to control your destiny which makes you ripe for exploitation. A demagogue will come along and assure you that "it's not your fault" it's the "elites" or "the fake news." You love the demagogue for absolving you of responsibility and hate the people who are "standing in your way."
It all comes down to responsibility. How hard am I willing to work to keep up and be an effective actor in the public sphere.
Benjamin Franklin had it figured out. After he and his colleagues had finished work on the Constitution, a woman asked him
"what have you given us Dr. Franklin?" Franklin's response,
"A Republic if you can keep it."
He'd done his job, now it was up to the woman who asked him the question. By our action or inaction the present mess is our creation. Now its our responsibility to create something else in
its place.
44
Perhaps these two men perfectly represent the countries they lead. After all it is their own people who have or will have put them into office. Democracies end when capitalist con men are held in high esteem by their populations. What underlies this alarming trend is that values have been eroded away by our materialistic culture.
Bread and circus anyone?
20
The only thing we have going for us in this Country is that we, the ordinary citizen can vote Trump and the rest of his ilk out.
Unlike the ordinary British citizen. Their Parliament, the Tories in this case, not the Labour part of Parliament, determines who their leader will be.
2020 cannot come soon enough, unless of course we get lucky and Trump is Impeached.
12
@Jean We tried that last election, the one in which Trump lost by almost 3 million votes yet still ended up President.
2
Well said. People either equate Johnson's plummy accent and alleged charisma with integrity - or else they don't care that he's rotten to the core. So long as he charms them.
Both men have opened the doors wide to the far right. The US is experiencing the incalculable damage, but at least the Democrats are a powerful counter-force. Many of the candidates are so good that it's hard to pick one. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination has a really good chance of beating Trump and leading the Dems to win back the House in 2020.
In the UK the only counter-forces to the Tories - and a Johnson premiership and crashing out of the EU without a deal - are Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The former is split because of weak leadership and the latter has gained ground but really only by default. Their leadership is spineless! So both parties would struggle to bring the government down and force another general election. Even if they did, it's unlikely that either would win.
It's paradise for the far right.
8
There are a few countries left that practice democracy. But Trump with his destroy Iran one sanction at a time makes things ever more difficult for those countries.
I live in one of them and feel qualified to tell you that we in Sweden had the correct name for the people who came here from Somalia, Kurdistan in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and others.
We call them asylum seekers not, as you do, undocumented migrants. Thanks to 18 years at the Red Cross helping 100s of these individuals I can say with some confidence that their effort to seek asylum was justified.
With the USA and the UK in the shape they are in I would not dare to present any suggestions as to how things can be made better.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US se
18
Thanks but no thanks. We are fine, we don’t want Malmo. Besides that Sweden, I’m afraid is too boring.
Two phony rotten to the core lying opportunists. How can this happen? How can it be maintained?
More important, how can it be stopped.
Majorities in both countries are sickened by the two of them. One of them lost by 3 million votes. The other will be elected by only about one in two hundred voters.
More than just the two of them is rotten.
21
"Trump’s doughnut not only has a big hole in it; it’s rotten to the core."
I believe this is the 3 millionth metaphor used by Mr. Cohen and his fellow editorial writers to tell us, yet again, that Trump is a menace. This, no doubt, is the emptiest of metaphors, suggesting that Trump is nothing, when the point is supposed to be that Trump is most definitely something. something very bad.
What is the point of endless redundant attacks? I'd say this: before Trump, editorial writers had to come up with an important issue and treat it thoughtfully. That was hard work, and the writers apparently think it justifies their taking four years off.
5
@michjas Trump is the hardest work this country has faced since at least WWII. Trump is the massive clot in a major blood vessel of the heart; regardless of what led up to it the only issue now is how to clear that blockage before death takes place.
3
Unfortunately, this nearly perfect column missed a few details. AR-15 rifles, the word "Ugly" and Socialism.
I'm old enough to remember that merely thinking about the concept of socialism, could get one a reference for psychiatric treatment. Now we have socialists running for president. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Sometimes that reaction leads to Opioids and other times to AR-15's. But, overall the Zeitgeist has turned ugly and the America I was raised in, weird.
Too, many details to discuss, but we know almost all of them.
5
@Texan, I disagree. There aren't any socialists running for president, not even Bernie. Trump will make that claim, and his followers will believe it, but it's a straw man, like his claim about open borders.
33
@SandraH.
Bernie calls it "Democratic Socialism"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sen-bernie-sanders-makes-the-case-for-socialism-61891653997
2
Given the absurd creatures that masquerade as so-called leaders (Trump and Johnson just two of legions), it's long past time to re-define that once-noble descriptor.
3
Your idea of Trump having a big donut hole is intriguing, as his unhinged, and unscrupulous, cruelty is creating havoc in all we used to hold true and valuable, where there was justice and freedom for most, and a modicum of decency. That's gone. And Trump (and Johnson, indeed), being a symptom, we must look in the mirror...for electing him yes, but mostly for supporting the unsupportable.
6
The rise of Trump militarism is the most repellent part of his "turn up the hate" governance. Johnson pre Brexit was an amusing buffoon. Now he will be running the show. One can see Johnson "turning up the hate" to keep his hold on power.
3
Equating Johnson and Trump is intellectually lazy. Johnson may well have his problems, particularly a lack of attention to detail, but he is no racist and is reasonably well educated. How you feel about the Brexit decision depends on whether you are thinking of an idealised democratic union of European nations or the real undemocratic EU that puts two incompetents, Lagarde and von der Leyen, into its top jobs as a result of a back room deal between France and Germany.
1
Immorality. Ignoring what is patently wrong, divisive, unfair. The problem is, many in the "exceptional!!!" USA and the stiff-upper-lip UK no longer require something to be moral, to be fair. It's all about what is best for them, now. Roger Cohen is right, the doughnut hole is widening.
(And, for what it's worth, the Salute Parade was the tackiest thing I've seen in a long time.)
5
Neither one of them would be in politics if it weren't the the giant holes in the centers of their supporters.
7
Strange how Cohen calls England and the USA the leaders of the free world. Most of Europe and other free nations like Canada, New Zealand etc. have long turned the page on anything decent coming from either country. Doughnuts only have one big hole. Maybe we should encourage Emmental (not Gruyère) cheese which has many little holes like most democracies.
3
We know these 2 are beyond pathetic. The real mystery remains how millions of fools are willing to support them? If this is not a sign of the END TIMES; I am not sure what else would qualify?!
7
At least outside NY Trump was an unknown to most Americans, including his appalling private lie and views, and so some excuse for their gullibility in accepting his lies. But nearly everything about Johnson has been known for decades now, and he was a two term of Mayor of London and a disastrous foreign secretary. But the Brexit issue has given him oxygen and he had always been beloved by the Tory Party membership, he has his base as Trump has and it's they who are electing him their leader and hence prime minister. But this limited electorate of 140,000 people do not reflect the views of the rest, and it's doubtful they will tolerate his lies, mendacity, racism, laziness and sleaziness.
7
Trump and Johnson are hollow-centered doughnuts? That's way too generous. They're bad apples who are rotten to the core.
6
Excellent article and eye opening.
What a mess!
How to get out of it? I do not know but people have be woken up to the disgraceful rulers running their countries and ACT.
There is troo much prejudice and ignorance.
4
"So much for the leadership of the free world!", you write. I assume that in your opinion leaders like President Obama or Mr. Jeremy Corbyn are better for the free world. You forget, Mr. Cohen, who are the leaders on the other side, the not free world. You live in a dream, Mr. Cohen, another 4 years of Obama and England under Corbyn could eliminate the "free world" you are talking about. I do not know about Johnson but President Trump is the right man at the right time. His quote, "make America great again" is not a hole in the doughnut it is the doughnut. Without him and in spite of his manners the real crazies will rule the world and you do not want it
1
I've always found the concept of the doughnut hole to be fascinating: Because a hole is nothing, one cannot actually "see" the hole--much like recent efforts to observe a black hole in space were actually attempts to discern the event horizon around the actual hole.
In Trump's case, the hole at his core is apparent only because of the obscenely flawed and needy husk of a human being that surrounds it. If the idea of America is to survive, we must escape Trump's event horizon.
4
The article is a fruitful diagnose. Though it doesn't cover effectively how these populist came into power, what weapons and tactics?, so to enlighten the way to either reclaim or topple them. Neither the article dealt with the fate Populist plan to or waiting for them.
An addendum: Populists in their tactics, to gain electoral votes, rely on two crossed swords, oligarchs and the lower class. The firsts feed the latter in an unethical pattern, in order to believe in a promise of a hypothetical deceptive heavens, packed with false sovereignty, Nationalism. Once the gain is in hand, Populism turns into a sort of destructive Authoritarianism, successful in the developing countries, but in a democratic environment, if well perceived and handled, the destruction turns on them. Let us see the future of US and Britain with Trump and Boris in power.
In all envisions, the important factor is the impact of Populism on Liberal Democracy of the free world.
1
Can we just stop this "Leader of the Free World" talk? They are leaders of the United States and Great Britain. They are not my leaders or anyones outside those countries. Nobody there voted for them.
38
@Mark B
The majority of US citizens did not vote for trump, either.
5
“The most dangerous attitude toward truth is contempt for its importance. “
So then. Here is a truth: The British people voted for Brexit in a free and fair election THREE(3) full years ago. So far this truth has been held in contempt by our politicians. Hence the Brexit party won the recent EU elections. Hence Boris. Not hard to understand.
3
@Abacus, three full years ago the British people were told that Brexit would mean more money for the NHS. They were told there would be no downside to leaving the EU, and that Brexit would be a soft landing.
I don't know whether they still agree with these lies, but surely they must be better informed at this point.
7
Yes sure. Whereas other politicians in other elections always tell the truth and keep their promises. A la. ‘ If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. ‘
By the way If the people are so disillusioned by the Brexit promises - why vote in Nigel’s Brexit party?
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for making inequality the first “I” in your explanation. Neoliberal appeals to social morality ring as hollow as heartland economies on both sides of the Atlantic after 40 years of neoliberal rule.
2
There has been interesting development in the leadership contest between Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson when it was revealed yesterday by the BBC and others, that when Boris Johnson became foreign secretary in 2016, Theresa May asked the intelligence chiefs not to share some sensitive intelligence with him because of his “big mouth.” The gaffe-prone Johnson may have better vocabulary than Trump, but his tendency to be a loose cannon generally and make truly offensive statements about foreigners in particular, mirrors Trump’s in every way. A Johnson premiership with a no-deal Brexit would be a disaster.
14
Johnson and Trump are not so much alike as Cohen suggests. Johnson, at least, is well-read, has some understanding of history, and served twice as mayor of London — so, despite his faults, he has intellectual, political and managerial experience which Trump does not have. Thus, despite his flaws, Johnson might not be as much of a threat to the free world as Trump appears to be. He might also surprise us.
7
Mr. Cohen presents a solid argument, but might include a seventh “I” — Instruction. Schools no longer stress the need to educate oneself in order to participate intelligently in one’s democracy — or to preserve a democracy’s very existence. A sizable percentage of voters here and in the UK seem to have skated through school without even learning how to learn. Is it any wonder they crave entertainment more than they do problem-solving?
Trump and Johnson strut around like world-famous actors, musicians, or sports figures. What they say doesn’t have to be true or significant. Their supporters want to be amused; they certainly don’t want to think.
9
Both Trump and Johnson's rise make complete sense when you understand they are products of Rupert Murdock. It is this fact that needs to be addressed in the future to make sure media moguls never gain enough power that they can destroy countries with it.
91
@Lucas Lynch, yes. And Brexit and Trump are also both products of Kremlin disinformation campaigns. I hope the Times does more investigative pieces on the Kremlin's efforts to undermine Western democracy.
9
Yes, the Six I's ... but who let it happen? Who do we blame, globalists or nationalists? Prominent commentators criticize those who criticize " elites ", but why? Populists were not the ones who hyped rapid globalization subsequent to the end of the Cold War.
1
You omitted an important "i"...ignorance.
Here in the U.S., the GOP's multi-decade War on Public Education has resulted in fewer civics classes, less concentrated U.S. history classes, and in general, less comprehension of the relationship between civics, governance, and history.
Yes, it's human for each cohort to think the next generation is getting away with less education. But in the last 30 to 40 years, teaching-for-tests, eroding budgets and possible overemphasis on some STEM subjects have all helped lower voters' ability to recognize political-norm breaking and charlatanism.
42
Great writing shines out the truth:
"The most dangerous attitude toward truth is contempt for its importance. The most dangerous use of language is one that strips it of meaning. The most dangerous approach to the past is the attempt to mythologize it."
It is indeed ominous. The clouds of lies presage the clouds of reality, which will overcome falsehood in the end, but only at the expense of harming humanity at an unimaginable scale.
12
"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke." Will Rogers.
33
The “Special Relationship” will become the “Splenetic Relationship”, or the “Sophomoric Relationship”, perhaps the “Spasmodic Relationship” or even the “Spectacle Relationship”. One thing it will cease to be, sadly, is special.
5
While Trump is a symptom of many things, it still appears that our schisms have been greatly amplified by clever manipulations of a brave new media by malefactors like Putin, Koches, Emiratis, and a host of others from here and offshore. They have an agenda and are focused on dividing us further and further from our core values.
9
And where is Labour?
3
Magnificent essay, even in the face of the horrors implicit in Cohen's central takeaways.
4
I am sorry but how can a donut have both a hole and a rotten core, or did someone cut out the core because it was rotten and that left a hole?
In my view, the core of the problem, rotten or otherwise, is that lying goes unpunished. Brexit had it bus with the fake claim that Euro payments could be diverted to the National Health service: simplistic nonsense considering that without Europe that money will never exist because the economy will not generate it.
America had ... so many false claims that the gullible swallowed hole.
In America we have the explicit protection for freedom of speech. The confusion is that speech is protected to enable people to express their views, to facilitate a deliberative democracy, the sharing of ideas. It needs to be understood that free speech is hindered by falsehood. Not mistakes, they are part of the process, but deliberate lies are noise which stifles democracy, that work against the free expression of real opinion, real ideas. These are what is rotting the core, the perversion of free speech by those who abuse that right to destroy it.
14
Like the Torys, the right wing extremists that rule the Republican Party have used the age old con game promising voters a return to a past life that is long over and gone. They offer no solutions, only regressive nationalist rallying cries like Make America Great Again. It is a return to the same strategy used by fascists the world over for the past the past century. Johnon and Trump have much in common including the ability to manipulate middle class working peoples' fear and hatred of "foreigners".
15
A quibble with Roger Cohen's fine column. Trump and Johnson may attempt to preside over the free world, but they lack the capacity to lead anything greater than a 21st century version of the Know Nothing party. Abraham Lincoln responded to the rise of the anti-immigrant Know Nothing party of his day with the comment that if it took power he would prefer to move to a country whose rulers practiced pure tyranny, without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Trump's electoral victory has converted Lincoln's "wish" into a dystopian reality. The ignorance and viciousness which his 19th century predecessors sought to cloak in a simulated concern over democracy Trump openly displays for all the world to see. His gross incomprehension of America's role in the world, combined with an indifference if not hostility to any immigrants of non-Scandinavian origins, demonstrate
Trump's unfitness to lead a multicultural nation with the extensive international responsibilities of the US.
In Trump's case, there is no doughnut. It's all hole.
43
What I've noticed again and again in the last 2 years is that people on the left bemoan, ridicule, outright hate Mr. Trump, but they never see any reason, any failing on their side, why he might have gotten elected. Is it possible that they contributed nothing to his election victory? Are they 100% good, he 100% bad? At least unlikely. Yet I haven't seen leftist commentators reflecting on the need to modify their views in the least. Have they gotten too unrealistically far to the left? Are they too much under the influence of their own extreme left fringe? What's wrong with this picture? Something is wrong on the left, the blame is not all on the right.
3
@Ronald B. Duke
The real problem in the US is that, ideologically, there is no left, just centre right, right, far right and totally in it for me right.
I can never understand how anyone with any intelligence, education, or even half a brain could consider someone like Hillary Clinton as left wing. It boggles the mind
3
@Ronald B. Duke, I'll bite. In what way was Hillary Clinton too far to the left?
2
"Trump's inner despot is like Dr. Strangelove's arm: He can't keep it down." This may be one of my favorite sentences ever. Great column. Thank you.
"...Six I’s: Inequality, impunity, invisibility, immigration, inversion and the internet." Commenters also added 'ignorance' and 'insanity' to the list, two more appropriate words. I'd like to add indifference and injustice: Mr. Trump is indifferent to everything but himself; and it's always injustice if justice can be purchased, as in his tactic approval of the murder and dismemberment of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
21
Darn, I thought he meant LBJ!
1
Roger Cohen must be exhausted. How else does he write about the rise of two twins separated at birth and by generations (Boris born in NYC, really?) and conclude it's all fixable because Trump's core is rotten.
How I don't know--I see the 6 "I's" firmly entrenched. Inequality keeps growing, if that's possible. America's forgotten are still invisible, just not Trump supporters.
As for impunity, the big banks have yet to be punished (but won't by the "new" GOP (same as the old GOP, just more unhinged). And Trump himself keeps getting away with murder, just not on 5th avenue.
Immigration will grow worse from Trump's cutoff of aid in Central America, and climate change long-term. Trump denies both just as he denies caging kids.
Inversion of values? How about no values at all. And the Internet, whose social media CEOs still haven't fixed their sites, have new reports of cyberintrusions right on schedule.
All this is treatable because Trump is so awful? How?
7
It is not the hole in the doughnut but the hole in their heart that is the problem. Also, their supporters are oblivious to that hole in their hearts and will support them no matter what. Why? Why is patriotism is degenerating? Why do they tolerate the lack of moral compass while they appear so righteous? Why are they blind to the ways of Trump and Johnson that actually hurt the supporters? Why are they so gullible? Why is it so important that a few issues that are dear to their hearts are rooted in hate of others? Why are we so helpless in finding a way to make these visible to them?
Is it all because we are humans? Should it not be the cure instead of the problem?
2
Whoever wins in the UK will not be leading the free world and neither does Donald Trump.
21
Trump is making the US a second rate country. Great Britain will fall even further under Johnson.
20
Probably. And isn't that just nuts?
"Bread and Circuses."
Can the utter and complete fall of Western Civilization be far off?
5
"So much for the leadership of the free world!"
We need to face reality. China is playing the long game for global hegemony. China can outlast the United States, England, the EU and essentially everyone else.
Do yourself a favor. Teach your children Chinese. As for English? It's unclear how important that will be for our future.
4
As an Anglo American, I’m sure that the UK is not one of the two leaders of the free world.
Only the Little Englanders who still think WW2 is being fought think this
US and Germany are the two leaders.
5
It's the Last Hurrah of the old order. It's party until you drop. Anything goes because it no longer matters. The decline cannot be reversed. Last minute looting and pillaging before the lights go out. Fill up before the barrel runs empty. Grab all you can.
What we refuse to acknowledge consciously seeps through with intense clarity from the collective unconscious.
4
Roger this was brilliant. Unfortunately the problem is not only trump or Johnson but their entire parties. The Republicans in this country since Reagan have beieved that "It’s O.K. to stiff people; it’s O.K. to lie; it’s O.K. to wink at racism". And unfortunately so do their followers. They have lost their souls and their reason and traded it in for mob mentality. We may be headed toward a permanently divided nation. I hope that the Trumpinistas for their part wall themselves in to protect the rest of us.
15
Trump and Johnson are both popular reactions to overwhelming immigration.
2
Boris Johnson is advancing for one reason: to protect the UK from Brexit.
With him as PM, dozens of revolted MPs will finally have a rationale to openly break with their Party's leadership. Their constituents will understand, and even forgive. With this crowd of extremists gone, it will be safe to say out loud what everyone already knows:
1. A 'no deal' Brexit would devastate the country, and maybe even break it apart.
2. No 'deal' with the EU is on offer. (This is the part everyone pretends to ignore.)
3. A revocation of Brexit would pass at the polls with ease and relief -- if only Corbyn would not become PM. (The only thing holding it back imho.)
Gotta express admiration for the British system for coming up with such a strategy.
90
@Ron
(More than four hours, and this space does not look good for Boris -- or Brexit.)
5
Good lord, I hope you’re right. But I fear you’re wrong; and that this is not a wily stratagem to dump Brexit. Instead, it’s just another con man taking advantage of an opportunity born of xenophobia, ignorance, and slackness to leap into the seat of power.
Sometimes a cigar is, alas, just a cigar.
35
@Ron
Your word in God's ear canal, so to speak...
Let's hope you're right.
9
Boris looks fair to be the next leader of the Tories. Whether he becomes prime minister depends on whether he receives the support of the House of Commons. Right now, the Tories, with their DUP hired enablers, have only a three-vote majority. But at least two Tories have said they will not vote to support him. If they vote against him, he's one vote short of a majority.
That's where it gets tricky. The Queen chooses the PM, based on who has the Commons's support. If Boris doesn't, she is supposed to give the MPs time to find someone who does. That could mean a cross-party "national" government of anti-Brexit (or at least anti-no deal) MPs, whose only platform would be a new referendum to settle the issue once and for all.
If that coalition can't be cobbled together, the Queen dissolves Parliament and calls for a new election.
Fascinating stuff. Historic times, and all that.
6
My wife and I just spent a month in London. Over there, Boris Johnson, or BoJo, as he is called, is not viewed as a threat but as an entertaining clown with a somewhat dodgy private life. Much media coverage resulted when he and his girlfriend got into a fight loud enough to get their neighbors to call the police. Unlike Trump, he is very smart, had a classical education, is deeply experienced in politics and journalism, and may turn out to be more serious and sober than his antics suggest.
34
@Mark Siegel
Also, don't underestimate the human ability to change on the fly when confronted with an unfavorable comparison.
In other words, a PM Johnson might unconsciously and consciously work to minimize Trump comparisons. The hair will gradually look less and less time-consuming to achieve, the relationship to truth will get firmer, and so on. The private meetings with the queen and the weight of tradition may instill more sober behavior, too.
4
@Grennan As an American who has lived in the UK for more than a decade, I see no evidence for the optimism you have for Johnson. He is an entitled twit who twice has been fired for lying. Corbyn has proven to be a dissapointing leader. With a decent leader Labour would be poised to end this horrible Tory government.
77
@Mark Siegel I have no idea who you spoke with in your month in London. Cab drivers? Everyone I know is very much afraid of Boris, since like Trump, he is an opportunist with no values or principles and strikes most people as rather dim. Boris is "very smart" the same way that Trump is a "stable genius". Deeply experienced in journalism? No, fired for inventing quotes. Boris is a spoiled public school boy. At least its now all laid bare how truly vapid the ruling class is in this country.
126
I don't understand why some adults without big doughnut holes cannot come together and agree to hold another referendum on Brexit. It'll surely fail this time. If the UK is a democracy, why not do the democratic thing?
"Leaders" on both sides of the Atlantic have become afraid of democracy that allowed them to crawl up to such high positions in the first place! Regardless of how they spin it, their actions are no better than Erdogan's in Turkey. He was at least honest enough to admit he would get off the "democracy train" when he got to his destination. And he did, a long time ago, as Trump and Johnson are trying to do now.
187
@JB why do you think Brexit would “surely” fail if there were another referendum? I have seen no evidence to suggest any significant change in voters’ sentiments, either through polls or anecdotal conversations.
6
@LD
Some people's initial reaction to Brexit was emotional, based on their views on immigration, etc. Now that there has been a long discussion of what Brexit would actually entail, some of those initially thinking with their lizard brains will make more rational decisions. This view seems to be born out by by recent polling data that you may have missed:
https://whatukthinks.org/eu/questions/in-highsight-do-you-think-britain-was-right-or-wrong-to-vote-to-leave-the-eu/
20
@JB They will not hold another referendum because it is generally believed that the result would be the same. The remain supporters have shown themselves to be deeply unpatriotic. It is a democracy....once the vote was in, if they had used their considerable talents to bring about the separation from the EU, we would be in a very much better place. And to threaten that our world will effectively come to an end is to deny human ingenuity and tenacity.
1
I have a lot of sympathy for the EU project. It's like the US, but with five times the structural and cultural barriers to success. Despite our glaring differences, the varying states are all still one country in the end, and most of those states either began as colonies (of England, Spain, or France) or were settled by Americans moving west (at the expense of the natives).
The EU on the other hand is full of member-states that have their own cultures and histories, some of which have warred with one another with astonishing regularity. Empires have risen and fallen on the continent in a cycle of violence ten times older than America. It is, on the face of things, crazy to imagine them uniting.
That's why I hope for it.
193
@Roarke Yeah, it is just plain crazy for the UK - obviously in the position to be a leader of it and influence its direction - to want to pull out of the EU instead. The worst inclinations of human beings (racism, xenophobia and chauvinism in general) are being appealed to and have great electoral import at this time. It's a reaction to feeling decreased respect, inclusion and security as Roger mentions. Stress is corrosive of tolerance and compassion.
34
Mr. Cohen's columns unfailingly make me think about the bigger picture. Both Brexit and Trump winning the election are self-inflicted tragedies. The flaws are within the democratic systems that can be fixed if the people and its representatives are willing to fix them. An educated populace is one of the necessities of a democracy. The electoral process is another. How did Trump get elected when Hillary Clinton received two million more votes? The craziness of the electoral college system that does not accurately reflect the popular vote. Another related matter: The District of Columbia, with a population larger than Wyoming, gets no voting representative in the House and Senate. And the British parliament? Will they choose this clown? That would be a self-inflicted wound, indeed.
304
@Kunio Tanabe
Self-inflicted? Perhaps in part, but I’m not so sure. I think there is sufficient evidence showing that Brexit and Trump’s election were aided and abetted by Russia. If you think this is unknowable, I suggest reading Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s “Cyberwar. ”
18
@Kunio Tanabe
I think the Supreme Court made us a Banana Republic in 2001. Justice has declined ever since. Then Citizens United. They have chipped away at justice little by little and given the Oligarchs what they paid for.
34
From my perspective in Australia, Mr Trump has quite deliberately cast off any claim to the title of "leader of the free world" with his America First policy. While historically important, the UK is has not really been a true world leader for many years.
To the extent that anybody can claim leadership of the free world (and I'm not sure anyone can) it would be Angela Merkel - a terrific irony given 20th century history.
546
The Six I's are a good meme, but we can certainly add a seventh--Ignorance.
When the other six interact with the know-nothingism of fact and science rejection, nothing good will ever follow.
We really have to examine how we go about educating and teaching critical thinking, logic, and provability--and that's going to require a real critical analysis of the uses and function of schooling using the very same tools.
Because if we continue this way, there will be more and more unhinged gunmen looking for child slavery rings in pizza parlors while the real traffickers slide by unnoticed on waters lapping farther and farther up the sea walls every day. And it will all eventually come tumbling down, no matter what Bizzaro-world interpretation is used as excuse.
779
@Glenn Ribotsky You're right. Others are better placed to comment on this, but I don't think it's wrong to say that Republican commitment to and support of public and "liberal" education has waned since 1980, because they don't see it as in their narrow political interest. Thus, they've sought to create an American public that is generally less (non-vocationally) educated, in order to better ensure that they enjoy executive and legislative power, while disregarding the detriment of this policy to the nation as a whole and in the future. There's a word for this.
118
@GRWi
Republican commitment to liberal education has waned because they can’t make immediate money off literature, philosophy, art, and music. And people studying philosophical and critical thinking are more likely to see through their intellectual and moral vacuity.
171
@Glenn Ribotsky You forgot to mention religion which usually plays a destructive role by encouraging people to believe what is not so. From there, it's a short step to unintelligent design.
106
What Johnson and Trump have in common, in addition to demagoguery, self-promotion and ignorance, is the kind of people who love them and see nothing wrong with their mendacity. The educational system for the masses in both countries have failed those people. WWII and previous horrors are now the distant past and no longer part of their consciousness. The educational system has not managed to give them a sound historical foundation that would help them recognize how dangerous are the Trumps and Johnsons of this world and how fragile is the system the evolved from the ashes of WWII.
489
@serban
The educational system isn't totally to blame. The historical relevance, especially of WWII, is fading because it was nearly 80 years ago. The generation that lived through that event are passing away. I agree that we should never forget the lessons of WWII. But time marches on. Older history is still taught, but gets reduced to a few paragraphs, instead of a chapter in text books. Younger generations are learning about 9-11 and the significance of those events.
8
@PWRT
I am a history buff (read all volumes of Gibbons "Decline and fall of the Roman empire"...not the abridged version) and what I found interesting were the wars on the frontiers that always seemed to reoccur every 20 to 30 years against the same people. Evidently the passage of time dims the horrors of war with each generation.I worry that American society's glorification of our military today is going to lead us in a similar path that is not going to end well in the long run.
25
There are similarities between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, but there are major differences between the British people and the American people.
The British have long experienced treason in high office. Look up “Why, how now, gentlemen!”, a line spoken by King Henry V in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. It comes just before the arrest of Lord Cambridge, Lord Masham and Lord Northumberland, for conspiring with the King of France as Henry prepares to invade the Continent. The possibility of treason is always known, and so are the consequences.
America, in contrast, has nothing like this in its history. The Revolution was essentially an internal conflict between groups of Englishmen, and “treason” in this context is somewhat more nuanced than direct collusion with a foreign power.
And perhaps because Americans have no historical concept of treason in high office, they have difficulty in recognizing it now.
371
@Global Charm. Summer of 2020 you shall see the details of American treason in full blossom view!!
14
@Global Charm Benedict Arnold? Not in high office, perhaps, but his name was known by every schoolchild in my day...
3
@Global Charm yes there is Arnold and Andre. Trahison to the British side .And there was also Conway, the Irish, who was selling military furniture given by the French, to the British .
3
Irrespective of the writer's views, the American electorate no longer believes in the "multilateral postwar order that (as a nation) it forged. The sacrifice appeared too great. And the participation of others registered too little. Consequently, until this conundrum of belief can be resolved, no hope of national political reconciliation is on the horizon.
4
@R, the American electorate doesn't agree with you since it chose Clinton over Trump.
But I agree that roughly 35 to 40 percent of voters don't understand how our postwar alliances help us. They're under the impression that it we withdraw from NATO, our defense bill will go down (Trump's two budgets include record increases for defense.) They don't understand that it's much more expensive to go it alone than to preserve order through soft power and a big stick.
Please consider that our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have racked up $6 trillion in debt so far. We maintain forces in South Korea that stabilize the Far East. Consider what the price of a new war on the Korean peninsula would be.
There's a saying that if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. The same truth holds for peace and war.
6
@SandraH. The argument that Clinton was the popular candidate is most likely a canard. Keep in mind Clinton outspent Trump almost 3 to 1. Trump hardly had a campaign in California. And it was there Clinton gained the advantage on "popular count". (And that won't be the case in 2020.) Stop trying to rationalize this phenomenon as a temporary historical aberration. It isn't. Stabilizing the Far East might seem a noble venture until you become a part of it. Then one begins to reassess its value, versus the deprivation of personal interests. (Keeping in mind the limited assistance of those from other nations.) Presently, on many more levels than the aforementioned example, this is the general issue American citizens are struggling with. There is a belief that "globalization" has not been kind to them. And their nation has moved on to international endeavors that have been to their detriment.
1
Watching Trump's July 4th history lesson was a real hoot. He used every cliche except one. Nathan Hale, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Cadet Bone Spurs knew better than to try that one.
There is something a bit odd about Trump's flirtation with military glory, though. He doesn't seem to be an actual war monger. Congress and Cold War tradition have given him the power to annihilate any nation, or any group of nations, at his own discretion. But so far, he treats the military as a stage prop. Which is actually a good thing.
Boris Johnson, on the other hand, has not dealt much in the glories of British military history, that I know of.
6
Call them charlatans. Call them narcissists call them what you want when it comes to reelection in case of Trump or first term as prime minister for Boris Johnson if that does happen will depend not on what opinion columnists call him but on the state of the union in the case of Trump and state of the United Kingdom in case of Johnson. Boris was one of the best mayors and possible the longest in British history. Far better than the current mayor.
As long as neither Trump nor Johnson plot a new regime change war, I would hesitate to write them off with demeaning labels. Leaders change what endures are nations and the peoples of the nations who in a democracy make judgments . Opinion columnists and spin doctors writing nonsense are meaningless in the dynamics of the election of leaders.
4
@Girish Kotwal
What evidence do you offer that Boris Johnson was one of the best mayors of London?
3
Just maybe you're wrong. I've had two presidents in a row, Obama and Bush telling me Social Security and Medicare aren't to be relied on. Sixteen years of it. One candidate what was her name? You know the one who called us a deplorable. I know I'm taking her out of context but when someone says you ain't worth it, you don't count, you expect us to vote for her? People didn't live as long as in yesteryear she said, so do us all a favor and don't be a burden. Hillary Rodham Clinton left us no choice.
Is it the same in England? Deep problems that aren't acknowledged by the political and financial classes. Could Belgium solve their problems? If only we could accept whats doled out. Too bad we could do so much better.
8
As we mark Independence Day, it seems cruelly ironic that the ‘special relationship’ between the United States and England now means both are known for two of the most hopelessly inept and irresponsible political figures imaginable.
93
One I would add to the Six I's. The Seventh would be "Ignorance". By that I mean the individuals that vote for these despots disregard the facts, unwilling to investigate for themselves, and above all are willingly accepting the propaganda of people like Trump and Johnson.
They believe the lies, or worse, know they are lies but chose to ignore them.
53
@cherrylog754
"They believe the lies, or worse, know they are lies but chose to ignore them."
Or worst of all, care only that the lies are entertaining.
6
Johnson will become PM based on the votes of registered members of the Conservative Party which make the tiniest fraction of the voters in England.
Trump became President with not a majority of voters but still many millions of voters. Most of theses voters had been waiting for a racist, homophobic, misogynist Republican candidate for decades.
They finally got one in Trump and they are not going away. They have taken over the Republican Party's infrastructure and defeating Trump in 2020 is not going to be easy.
52
This is the best of all possible worlds. Lather, rinse, repeat.
This is the best of all possible worlds.
Voltaire was correct.
2
@Eric Peterson and I am going to cultivate my garden.
"...the richest 1 percent now own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent."
I must say that sounds pretty awful.
What if we just took the wealth from the richest 1 percent and gave it to the bottom 90 percent?
Problem solved!
10
There’s a seventh ‘I’: ignorance. Whether willful or otherwise, ignorance in a populace allows for destructive leadership.
13
As the Queen asked of a room full of economists after the collapse of the global financial system in 2008: Why did no one see it coming?
The Six I's is a scathing indictment that represents a decades-long systemic failure at virtually every level of society.
This column is like having a weatherman standing in debris and the rubble of destroyed homes reporting on the devastation that resulted from a monster hurricane, after he had predicted it would be a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day.
How on earth did someone of Cohen's formidable intellect not see all this coming, especially when so many of us out in the real world have known for decades that all of this was inevitable?
7
The USA under Trump does not lead the free world. Neither will the UK under Boris Johnson.
For the moment, I see Angela Merkel as the leader, with Macron close by.
None of this augurs well for the free world -- which, unfortunately, is fine with Trump and BoJo. Neither of them have the intelligence or competence to understand what they are dragging. down. They are all about the big show. In this country, we can safely say the Republican Party has betrayed our country, in the UK it is the Tories.
38
The problem with these guys - I don't think they are purposefully driving America and Britain in to the ground - but they are both delusional and don't realize that what they are doing imperils and endangers their societies / countries...
so it is up to those of us who clearly see what is happening - to resist their efforts.
16
@AM
I’m skeptical about Trump’s and Johnson’s naivety. I think they know exactly what they’re doing. I’ve read that Johnson is actually rather bright, well-educated, and capable. Trump has a long history of being a racist and misogynist; in one divorce procedure, it was reported that Trump kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside; and it is widely documented how Trump has lied, cheated, and exploited others his entire adult life.
1
I agree with Mr. Cohen that Republicans have hijacked the political culture of our country by lying about the reasons for wage stagnation within the middle class since 1979.
So why doesn't the Times do something about it. Why don't they print a pie chart on the front page every day for ten years showing the real reasons economists believe we have such inequality?
19
From my understanding, the big difference between Johnson and Trump is that Trump was elected by the people of the US and Johnson, if elected PM, will only be elected by his party to lead it. Johnson will not have special constitutional powers that a POTUS has. He has no more power than any other member of parliament in the governing party (perhaps some minor powers). He just has the authority of the party leader and can use that to influence policy. Just as a PMs are elected by the governing party, they can be quickly and easily dumped by the party without involvement of the voters.
In the UK, the PM's tenure is dependent on the governing party's electoral success whereas in the US the POTUS's tenure is not. People in the UK vote for a party and not for a PM.
What I'm suggesting is that while Johnson has as big a hole in the doughnut as Trump, he is rather more constrained than Trump in how he can damage the country. Just because the governing party might select Johnson as it's leader doesn't mean that the British people will accept him and that could affect the governing party's electoral success.
11
@Barry Long Trump lost that election by almost 3 million votes that we know of. Like Boris, he was put into office by an UNELECTED and secret cabal known as the Electoral College -- a leftover fossil from the slave era in America.
2
In one brilliant paragraph, Roger Cohen captures the essence of Donald Trump (and Boris Johnson):
"Speaking of doughnuts, Boris Johnson may well become the British prime minister this month. The United States and Britain would then be led by men with striking similarities, and not just on the hair front: two charlatans and narcissists with flimsy notions of the truth, utterly unprincipled, given to racist slurs, skilled practitioners of the politics of spectacle, manipulators of fear, nationalist traffickers in an imaginary past of radiant greatness, fabulists of reborn glory, with giant holes at their centers where conscience and integrity went missing."
His "Six I's" are also on-the-mark, although it is worthwhile to add the seventh, "Ignorance," as suggested previously by a member of the commenting community.
If we recall how critically important an informed electorate is to the survival of a democratic republic, as emphatically stated by John Adams and others among the founders of this one, we better understand the the risk we face with Trump and whatever may come next.
20
It should be added that Russia played a role in both the election of Trump and the Brexit vote. In fact Russia used the Brexit vote to test out its internet capabilities for interfering in a foreign election before getting involved in the US election which was the big prize. Russia probably made Trump a possible viable candidate by rescuing his collapsing financial empire. While the type of populists that support Trump and Johnson certainly exist in large numbers I think without Russia playing a role I doubt that Trump would be president of the US and Johnson likely the next prime minister of England. Rather than being part of the free world both the US and the UK may become part of the fascist world led by Russia which means that Russia would have successfully carried out its plan.
19
Alright, Mr. Cohen, you must be reading my comments because I've referred to Trump as the "charlatan-president" since the day after his election. As to Johnson, IF he becomes the prime minister of Britain then it will be a sad and sorry day for the people living on that island. While Mrs. May did not have a good tenure, no one should doubt her character or desire to have wanted to lead Britain out of the EU as the people voted in a national referendum. It was not to be and now the specter of a real basket case taking the helm is really a worst-case scenario for Britain and the world in general because now there will likely be TWO charlatan-leaders of countries that were supposed to be the bullwarks of democracy. It just goes to show ya....
4
They share policy: exploitation sold by exploiting hatreds and fears.
Each of them would cement more deeply into power the inequality, and get the exploited to vote for it with appeals to hatred and fear.
Of course, they don't say that. It is however the only possible understanding of what they actually propose to do.
4
Our two nations must have several things in common to give rise to Donald and Boris. Start with the obvious:
1. Bravado gains attention. New chaos is in the eye of the beholder, so new responsibility goes unassigned. Words of defiance and autocratic activities win hearts. Clever lies are lodged within complaints about the opposition. The minds are won by one thought: losing to the opposition. "More loss" is entrenched and it is intolerable. Boris' and Donald's priorities do not stray from the All England Club / the All American Club.
2. Members of these clubs identify outsiders by their points of origin. They detect club infiltrators, if they fail to defend the autocrat's activities.
3. Powerful interests, both established and interlopers send resources to back Donald's and Boris' success, whatever potions they're selling.
4. The free press is, so far, incapable of exposing these two as tantrum-throwing, would-be kings who are feeding the basest nature of citizens (already cranky from decades of listening to pundits paid to spew white victimhood).
5. Even mediators shun debate with the partisan droning of members of the All England Club / the All American Club because -- they will remain died-in-the-wool members of one herd. And, trying to separate one from the herd elicits a violently defensive response.
6. Focus on the more youthful / more tolerant as capable of wielding a logical argument is something that powerful interests do not want to occur.
3
"Inequality, impunity, invisibility, immigration, inversion and the internet."
When I first read your headline I thought you were somehow contrasting LBJ with Trump. I was wrong. But it is interesting to look at your 6 Is in the age of LBJ. Instead of inequality he sought equality at every turn. He signed the civil rights, the voting rights and the fair housing acts. LBJ never acted with impunity; even in his greatest failure, Vietnam, he took responsibility and effectively resigned. He was not an invisible president. He was always available to the press and counted many of its luminaries as his friends. He pressed for the greatest immigration law reform in fifty years and signed Trump's most hated law, the immigration act of 1965 which prohibits discrimination in legal immigration on the basis of race, religion or country of origin. No one person is more responsible for the diversity of the US today than LBJ, whose immigration reform opened up the country to Asians, Africans and Latin Americans. Inversion, in a proper form, was one of his strong suits. He took the Republican criticisms of his "socialist" Great Society and brought about Medicare, Medicaid, Headstart, Foodstamps, PBS, NPR, NEA and many other revolutionary social programs. There was no internet in his day. Trump gives us occassion to re-evaluate LBJ in a different light, one which considers Vietnam a failure among many great successes.
62
@James Ricciardi LBJ was indeed transformative. Some immigration is good for the economy, but as Barbara Jordan noted during the Clinton adm. It also depresses wages.
What is the point of worshipping the God of Diversity if it harms the native born? Get thrown out of your job by a H1B who will work for less, or an illegal, and see the light.
2
@Liz That is the conventional wisdom, but I disagree with it. Legal immigrants are taxpayers and consumers and help to increase productivity and growth. Some of our greatest companies like Google and Apple have been founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. The native birthrate is not sufficient to produce the growth our citizens demand.
3
The brits that voted for Brexit will soon find out their decision has serious unintended consequences that will cripple their country for years, if not decades. When giving the finger to 'the man', or just for spite, it might feel good for a minute, or an hour. But it does nothing to address the complex underlying problems that cause citizens pain. That takes work, patience, and persistence - things that are in short supply on both sides of the Atlantic.
30
The heart of the matter is that Trump, Johnson, and others are in fact "a symptom" as Mr. Cohen states in his concluding paragraph.
The rise of authoritarian governments and aspiring dictators is the result of rising pressures of many types that have been accumulating over the past century, resulting in the growth of fear, tribalism, wealth and income inequality, intolerance, selfishness, and greed, and at the expense of the gentler, more generous, and humane emotions on a societal level.
In 1958 Aldous Huxley asked whether liberal democracy could survive these very trends, which he perceived at that time. His answer was that in 50 or 100 years our children will learn the answer to that question.
His foretelling was based on data at that time. It didn't include global warning
18
@Jim Hugenschmidt
History a mystery that never repeats like a mime in box that has no locks.
Democracy is a fragile thing. There are many different forces pulling on it from all directions, all around the world. Democracy cannot survive without us. We need to ensure that it can survive with us, too.
5
The US has never been a real democracy.
1
@Steve Bolger
There are two definitions of this word - the older one - the system of government - which, true, the US is not. And the more modern, and commonly accepted use of the word - "the practice or principles of social equality" - which we most certainly have been.
"What counts today is not persuasion but mobilization." And what also counts is a future in which the 'other' - those of a different color; different (often higher) level of education; those capable of contributing; and a long etc are made to suffer, be it in terms of a wall (US) or the ending of a freedom of movement which has brought so many benefits as well as the issues exploited by the Trumps and Johnsons of this world. This is a populism based on resentment and a wish to lash out: political life since 2016 has been convulsed by various incarnations of populism. Politicians who offer simple solutions on the back of underlying resentment are in the ascendance. Growing sections of the public in western democracies are looking for someone to blame and someone to follow.
The US will emerge from this self-harm post-Trump; the UK has no such future. As Trump would say, "Sad."
5
Trumpism is the end of history.
1
The financial industry jumped into a pump and dump real estate industry, with loan originators taking their one percent origination fee on every mortgage transaction then selling the mortgages to big Wall Street. The expert computer modelers sliced and diced the purchased mortgages into tranches with higher bond ratings than justified. Big investment houses bought the bonds and sold them into the big money market and also sold insurance in the form of hedging bets, which were sold to big investors as well as to speculators.
When the computer models collapsed under the false assumption of the experts and the system melted down, Bush with a Democrat Congress and Obama with a Democrat Congress, flooded the big boys with cash to protect the big investors and speculators.
The financial meltdown was a zero sum game. For every player who had bet wrong and had losses, there was the other side of the transaction where the investor had bet correctly. Since these were all big boys, when the meltdown occurred, the big boys should have had to sort it out among themselves, with the losers absorbing the bulk of the losses and the winners having to accept less than they were entitled to because of bankrupt counterparties. Instead, the corrupt government had the taxpayers cover the gains for the big boys, which prevented the equilibration that would have made the recovery fast.
Trump and Sanders got popular support in response.
8
Yes, the panic of 2008 was a liquidity crisis. Side bets on the economy greater than the global annual economic product all became payable simultaneously.
1
"The internet that, through social media, destroyed traditional mediators of society, like established political parties........."
You might add destroyed the definitive truth of science and respect for law. Hence, we see flouting and defiance for those authorities who generate and maintain scientific truths and black letter law.
With an iPhone and Facebook, suddenly there are no codified truths, and everything is up for grabs. The benighted and the functionally illiterate suddenly feel up to a confrontation of authority armed with preconceived biases, anecdotal evidence, and feral aggression.
We are living in Gray Age, a variant of the Dark Ages, sired by Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg - but hoi polloi don't want to be disabused of their fatuousness just yet.
Hence, we are collectively laboring under a miasma and most don't realize it.
This may be hyperbolic and pretentious. But what we really need is a hero equipped with metaphysics and epistemology to define society and reality, and to create a system that is fair and just for all.
22
Roger, though I don't always agree with it, I appreciate your transatlantic worldview and your vision of "The West."
I suggest though that The West - and The Free World - no longer exist as a concept. Perhaps it's a temporary thing, perhaps it's permanent. While the details vary from country the country, the symptoms you list in your column are indeed the same across the region. And the result is also so: the countries that make up The West are currently in decline.
The US has descended into a cartoonish right-wing dystopia, and the response from the current leading presidential opposition party is simply to restore the pre-2016 status quo. That may be enough to rid us of Trump (or not), but it will do nothing for the conditions that led to Trumpism.
Similarly in the EU, the pro-Europeans' response to the nationalist backlash against the EU is increased integration and federalization. It's a characteristically myopic and arrogant stance from European elites that even the pro-EU segments of the public don't share.
And of course there's Britain doing its best to attain the prosperity of a Balkan republic.
This malaise isn't going away soon. And it's also going to take a drastic re-imagining of our economic order/system, and the interests that benefit from globalized neoliberalism are too entrenched at the moment for that to happen.
We're looking at a generation at best to get out of this.
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Mr Cohen, If the six i’s you list created conditions favorable to the Donald Trump presidency, I wonder how we treat these symptoms with him there given his priorities, none of which include the needs of others. If he is a symptom, it is of a disease which destroys from the inside. One manifestation of it involves another i word, the effect of the frustration one must feel having to deal with him—inaction. So many around him have simply given up. He acts and sounds like he believes he’s omnipotent. I really want Congress to take action.
As for Boris Johnson, all I can say is if he becomes P M, he’ll certainly liven up 10 Downing Street, but they wouldn’t really do that, would they?
3
It is no coincidence that the majority of workers have seen no real wage increase since 1980. The enormous economic inequity in the US is the result of the supply-side economics embraced by Reagan and worshiped by the Republican party ever since. It is the gift from St. Ronnie that just keeps on giving. Of course, it gives only to rich people, but that is the whole point.
It is -- and always was -- insane to believe that the best way to improve the economic position of poor and working-class people is to give money to the rich. That policy has failed for almost 40 years, but the Republicans just keep doubling down on it. Yet no amount of failure convinces them that the policy is flawed.
A few years ago, I went to a doctor due to a serious, but treatable, medical problem. He made a diagnosis and gave me detailed instructions for lifestyle changes that he said would remediate the problem. I followed the program religiously, but kept getting sicker and sicker. I stopped the program and got no sicker. I told him that I was convinced the diagnosis was wrong and begged him to take a different approach. He refused and labelled me a difficult patient. I finally went to a different doctor, who listened carefully to my experiences, made a different diagnosis and put me on a different course of treatment. I got better.
The Republican party is like that first doctor, unwilling to abandon a treatment program just b/c it's been proved to be a total failure.
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@cds333
Unfortunately, I have to disagree with your analysis of "policy failure". The Republicans have, in fact, succeeded with their policy of giving to the rich and disowning the rest of us. They hold power, despite a minority of the population in support. In part, they benefit from the billions of dollars they receive as rewards from their beneficiaries, so they retain power even when most of us feel the pain of their policies. They never will renounce what keeps them in power. It is not a matter of ethics, logic or empathy or compassion that guides their course; it is simply a sword that they wield to keep us in our place. So they think.
We need to get out the vote and get them out.
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@Richard Thalhammer. I think we agree on several things. I don't find it hard to understand why those at the top support this nonsense. It benefits them and their friends (i.e., the only people who count). As an electoral policy, it has worked for them, as you say.
When I say that the policy is a failure, I mean that it fails to accomplish its stated goal: to increase the size of the pie for everyone. Many members of Congress and state legislatures are not wealthy people, but they keep drinking the Kool-Aid. And the folks who are most hurt by the policy keep voting the brainwashees into office. That's the part that leaves me flummoxed.
As Oscar Hammerstein wrote (in "The King and I"), "But, is a puzzlement."
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@Richard Thalhammer
If it were that simple, HRC would be President.
We DID “get out the vote” and she won that vote. Why do we continue to sweep the anachronistic Electoral College under the rug and allow it to manipulate our elections?
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Mr. Cohen's six I's are accurate as far as they go, but he overlooks the most important factor driving Brexit: terrorism and the fear it generates. The heinous attacks in Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, etc. were wildly successful in sowing hysteria throughout the EU, including the UK. Johnson and Trump are simply expert fearmongers who have cynically exploited this powerful emotion. Of course, an individual is more likely to be hit by lightning than perish in a terrorist attack (and forget about mortality from smoking, drinking, cancer, heart disease, etc.). As long as the West continues to overreact, the terrorists win. Destabilizing Europe is exactly what they want.
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Migration motivated Brexit. As climate change progresses, migration will intensify.
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I share your anguish. Sadly, these events also demonstrate the flaws of democracy in general, and the flawed democracies of both countries. They are unrepresentative democracies, where not only do people get elected who are do not represent the views of voters, but where the minority is not protected. I am not sure that improved systems, such as in Australia or Germany, do no always result in improved results. This is not the way I wanted things to turn out.
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It is hard not to lay considerable blame at the ineptitude of former Prime Minister Cameron and former Secretary Clinton. There were other factors, to be sure, as well as evil forces at work. But these two were supposed to be clever and thoughtful people. Not so.
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It is clear that global world order nor the EU, so beloved of liberals, did not bring prosperity or good times to many in the US or the UK. What they see is a concentration of power, wealth and influence in the hands of a minority that would make the Ancien Regime envious. Trump and Johnson are the messengers of this dissatisfaction. Shooting the messengers won't solve the problem. Yearning for America's dominance in a world where the other the other "Great Powers" were a crumbling British Empire, a hollow Soviet Union and an isolated China, won't do it either. Change is constant, Pax Americana is gone, unlikely to return. Trump and Johnson are but transient players on the stage. Yes, they bellow and shout their lines, but blaming them for the bad script isn't the answer.
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Boris's tangled relations with the US
Boris Johnson had the misfortune to be born in the US - why I say misfortune will become clear soon - his parents lived during a study break in NY City. That made him a US citizen , in addition to his UK citizenship
He left the US at the age of four, and has not lived in the US since.
In 2014 , Boris Johnson sold his stately home in Britain. That sale is tax free under British law, and not recorded in a government ledger
The IRS considered any transaction of US citizen, even a dual citizen, living in his home country, it to be taxable and sent an "outrageous" bill to then Mayor of London. Mr. Johnson after making VERY clear he was about the US actions settled eventually for an undisclosed amount
In 2017 he canceled his US citizenship
The most intriguing aspect , however, who informed the IRS?
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Yes, Trump is a symptom of a problem that requires surgery, recovery, and rehabilitation. Yet too many of our politicians and pundits think all we need is a band-aid. They too, are part of the problem.
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@Eric Caine
Most voters think Trump is right and there is no band-aid required.
Workers seeing the biggest wage increases are those in the bottom quartile. Trump polices are reducing income inequality.
Thank heavens for the Electoral College that doesn't allow California and NY to dictate policies that favor big business to the detriment of 80% of the population.
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@ebmem
The rise in wages has happened at the low end of the scale and not the middle. It has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s policies. It was brought about by the passage of new minimum wage standards by liberal cities such as Seattle and liberal states such as California.
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@ebmem Most voters voted for Clinton.
1
The pro-Brexit crowd deserves Boris Johnson.
He'll lead (once) Great Britain into a third world leadership position.
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@Brad
The America Ueber Alles crowd deserved Trump as well.
He has lead the (once) great US of A into a third world autocratic banana republic.
4
What an odd commentary by Roger Cohen.
On the one hand, a clear analysis of “the six I’s” that have led many citizens to embrace right-wing populism. On the other hand, the usual ad hominem attacks on the personalities of populist leaders.
It never seems to occur to the critics that a focus on these personal inadequacies undermines their substantive message. It makes it less likely that conservatives will accept their legitimate points and less likely that liberals will acknowledge the ways our failures have led to populism’s rise.
Then there is immigration. Cohen presents the problem as a need for better policies and (his one nod to conservatives) following the law. Yet it is more a matter of sheer numbers, which have increased greatly in recent decades both in the US and Western Europe.
“Inequality has risen as workers in the bottom 60 percent of American society have seen no real wage increase since 1980.” True. And annual immigration numbers have increased 3X in the US during that time—heavily weighted toward less educated workers. Coincidence?
Conservatives & liberals both need to think harder about the strengths and weaknesses of their ideologies, and about how Americans can work together to further the common good.
“The most dangerous approach to the past is the attempt to mythologize it.” Spoken like a partisan. It is equally dangerous to disparage the past and render it unfit for further service.
Liberals & conservatives both need to bethink ourselves.
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@Phil Cafaro "And annual immigration numbers have increased 3X in the US during that time—heavily weighted toward less educated workers. "
Yet in 2018 the percentage of the population that is immigrant is less than in the late 1800's. The number of annual immigrants to the US constitutes approximately .5% of the population and our annual rate of natural increase is currently .4%. So our over rate of population growth is probably less than 1% which is historically quite low. We need more immigrants not fewer.
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Thank you- just excellent writing and synthesis of where we are in the west. An inspiring piece. Thank you.
14
The two men are incredibly alike and lie constantly. Boris, however, has at least an overlay of wit, while Trump has the vocabulary of a twelve-year-old.
In a further irony, both obsess about the danger of illegal immigrants. However, the immigrant was has arguably done more damage to the USA than any other was legal and is a pal of Trump: Rupert Murdoch.
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@bnyc
That's not even the half of it. Murdoch left a trail of damage on his travels, first in his home country down under and then when he used the UK as a stepping stone on his way here.
And he got a sweetheart deal beyond any immigrant's wildest dreams after he got here. He had violated media ownership rules for non-citizens and, far from being sanctioned, he had his naturalization hastened by a friend in Congress, Newt Gingrich, who had a profitable book deal in the works with Harper Collins, part of the empire of - you guessed it - Rupert Murdoch.
21:10 EDT, 7/05
22
"What counts today is not persuasion but mobilization."
Truer words were rarely spoken. We may not want to live in a world were persuasion is defunct. However, that is the world we live in right now. If we ever want to see dignity and reason again, we need to abandon the notion of persuasion as a political strategy. 2020 is a turnout election.
There aren't enough votes to persuade. You need raw numbers. Hopefully, like Obama, Democrats manage to pull along enough of the persuadable vote in the process. However, Biden with his appeal to the center is a joke. That doesn't mean a center can't be found but Democrats aren't finding it with ghosts of a neoliberal past. Move on.
Trump understands this principle. His only survival is mobilizing more voters in the right places than his opposition. Democrats haven't figured that out yet. That makes me very, very nervous going forward.
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Let's address the first "I" , INEQUALITY - stagnant wages for the lower classes, soaring incomes of the elites, set in the context of the EU.
When the UK joined the EU, the EU was comprised of countries with similar wage levels , Germany, and France being the most important ones.
Under the EU rules, there are no tariffs and free movement of labour. But given similar wages, French and German workers did not migrate to the UK.
This CHANGED when the EU expanded to the low wage countries of Eastern Europe: Poland , wages 1/6 of UK wages, Bulgaria and Romania, even less.
Noq, British plumbers saw their jobs taken over by Polish Plumbers, willing to work for less. That pleased the ELITES in London who had the ancient plumbing in their Victorian Mansions in Mayfair fixed for far less, but loved that British plumbers that lost their jobs. Similar, British beef now had to compete with beef from Romania.
That pleased the ELITES that now could buy Bulgarian wines (excellent) for less.
The cosmopolitan ELITE in London loved all this, while getting very, very rich, by washing money, facilitated by the EU , moving from Latvia, or Cyprus to the UK where financial wizards stored in channel islands, British Crown Dependencies, in the BVI .
And so the gap increased. Eventually, the British working class rebelled . And voted for Brexit .
But the fault for Brexit falls on the Oxbridge elite who cared little for their fellow citizens.
Johnson they deserve.
20
Those Polish plumbers, you do realize they learnt plumbing after they got to England, that they hustled and won. What will England have without them now but slow workmen and burst pipes. The metaphor builds itself.
1
@Woof
They deserve Trump.
How one can write an article purporting to explain Trump and not mention America’s exhaustion with wars abroad is utterly amazing. Where so many regular voters make decisions based on weekly pay checks, kids lost to drug addiction and sons and daughters killed and maimed in places they’ve barely heard of, Mr Cohen thinks they’re voting as they are because they no longer obediently mediate through America’s two (two!) political parties. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting image for the panicked obliviousness of our elite than the belief that straying from two old, established parties is a defeat for liberty.
But there’s more. Cohen can’t understand that if America forged a multilateral postwar order it’s not in fact multilateral. China, Turkey, Russia, India are acting in their own interests. That has been obvious since Obama’s administration and to suppose that were someone else to be in the White House the rest of the world would obediently fall in line with an American designed arc of history is fantasy of the highest order.
History will record that Trump won because he promised fewer wars, less globalisation and less self-loathing. Biographers will note he is a crude narcissist. I don’t know if Karensky was a narcissist, but he only promised the Russians democracy and not the end of world war 1. So he lost to the Bolsheviks, who promised peace and bread. That’s what people remember, not whatever the 1917 equivalent of vulgar tweets is.
7
@Terrence While people are fed up with war, and inequality, Trump's xenophobia and nationalism bodes ill for the future. After all that did not work out well in the 20th century. In the multi-polar world of the 21st century we need the friends and allies that he scorns.
His scapegoating of immigrants ignores the more difficult task of dealing with to deindustrialization of the workforce which is a major cause of declining wages.
6
You didn't mention the East at all in this column, only the West. Maybe the East is driving where we are going. China first and foremost using the internet to monitor and control its population, and investing heavily in AI to further develop the capability. The West is a bit more hesitant so far to roll this out. The Chinese seem to have a different idea about the role and purpose of individuals in a society.
Russia second, with its willingness to tamper with the West's democratic institutions, playing factions against each other to undermine Western baseline institutions. Russia is not alone in doing this.
Succeeding against these influences will require recognition first, and action second, which is not coming from Trump or Johnson.
10
Mr. Cohen, you left out the seventh 'I' word, insanity which is seeing what is not there and believing it is true. And Trump's omnipotence and megalomania definitely fit that definition.
Today Trump took another step towards believing that he can completely remake our system of government that has held true over the centuries. He made it clear that he believes he can ignore a ruling of the Supreme Court by executive fiat. And yesterday he showed us he is willing to use the military for his own purposes Will it be ignoring the will of the people in our election if he concludes he can get away with it?
Johnson and his Brexit loving friends took a page out of Trump's play book as they misled and lied to the British people about its costs and effects. Now they are about to put that same fox in the chicken coup to finish the destruction.
It is not only about the madness of these men, but about the delusion on the part of their supporters that this madness will fix our problems.
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@just Robert
I am amused by your accidental play on words by spelling “coop” (chicken) as “coup”. Cheers!
5
Trump and Johnson are like the neighbor you find on every block who like to show off the new car they buy by parking it in their driveway rather than inside the garage, even though they are two paychecks away from bankruptcy should they lose their jobs.
171
I lived through Vietnam and during that era the United States had Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, arguably three of the most talented politicians of the 20th century who surrounded themselves with the smartest men on the planet. Still, we came close to nuclear war and witnessed the most cynical prosecution of a war in our history which is considered the beginning of the end in our faith in democratic institutions. Yet today, we still see homages to Jack Kennedy. What is Roger Cohen lamenting or warning us about exactly? Does he wish to return to that so-called golden era when we faced down the Soviets during the Cold War with style and panache? I’m no Trump fan, but in spite of his lack of refinement and education, narcissism, incompetence and volatility, we’re not in a hot war and the standoff with Iran appears to have fizzled. Our institutions, however beleaguered, have been seemingly able to push back against Trump’s worst instincts. His fruitless trade wars haven’t wrecked the international trading system, his tax cut hasn’t pushed up interest rates or hurt the economy, his climate change denial has no more added to the problem than the inaction of previous administrations, and cozying to Putin or Kim Jong-Un hasn’t resulted in their countries being any more aggressive toward their neighbors. In other words, things could be much better, but the constant drumbeat that we’re a hair’s breadth away from disaster is getting old.
13
@AlNewman - That's true. Trump is no where near as bad as George W. Bush. But that said, we are facing the end of civilization as we know it... It is called "Global Warming" and unfortunately it is more serious than the Vietnam War and the wrong man is on the job.
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@AlNewman: One thing that's missing here is the idea of opportunity cost: it may be true that Trump isn't actually rolling clouds of black smoke out of the White House chimneys, but these are the times when we should have been taking action, and Trump has done nothing but what harm he can. Similarly, we could have been working on useful diplomacy, and Trump, although he hasn't started any wars, has introduced nothing of value. You're right, we haven't launched any attacks on NK or Venezuela, and we haven't left NATO... and the drumbeat is getting old. But that doesn't mean its message isn't still valid.
36
@AlNewman A country moves slowly, so we don't see the negative effects yet.
The president represents the country, and this president is an embarrassment to this country. He probably broke beyond repair the reputation of the USA towards the rest of the world.
The consequences of the trade wars will take time to be felt. Companies will find new suppliers eventually, and will not return. That will hurt American corporations, employees, the economy.
Maybe you are right about climate change, but not about other environment-related issues like CAFE standards, national parks, incentives for traditional polluting energy sources, and many other examples of unnecessary de-regulation.
33
Author Pankaj Mishra says in his book "Age of Anger: A History of the Present" that it is negative reaction to globalization that is now being directed away from the elite to divide the masses against one another. In a very real way it is a macrocosm of my own state of Wisconsin following the 2008 crash. With the help of outside interests Gov. Walker divided the people against union workers (Act 10) and against any and all Obama health care and infrastructure programs. Mishra says that" the powers that be" tap into peoples' areas of resentment and hate in order to do this. You are correct in Johnson being a copy cat of Trump in the current power game of dividing the public against itself. I encourage you to read his book if you have not already done so. Published in New York in 2017.
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@1blueheron
I would add that it is a reaction to economic uncertainty as we move from the last stages of the industrial age and enter the information age.
The same unpleasant dynamics were at play during the advent of the industrial age. Today's nativism was exhibited by yesterday's Know Nothing party in the 1850s. To quote: "The Know Nothings believed a "Romanist" conspiracy was afoot to subvert civil and religious liberty in the United States and sought to politically organize native-born Protestants in what they described as a defense of their traditional religious and political values"
Sound familiar? Then, people would not have been able to believe there could be a stable economy in which agriculture workers would account for approximately 3% of the labor force. Airplanes, automobiles, etc., were beyond their ken.
We face similar uncertainty today and behave as badly as our progenitors. Trump is a venal, cynical, physical manifestation of that uncertainty. History will record this time as a time of interesting change and upheaval. Now, however, It's just difficult to experience.
21
@kalix1 Good historical background for a parallel to the economic aspect. Income inequality continues despite low unemployment figures. One other source that dovetails with Mishra, Chris Hedges "America" The Farewell Tour," (New York, 2018). Hedges ties the politics of vengeance to the corporate state. He makes good use of Kierkegaard adding that we must be able to see ourselves in our oppressors.
15
@1blueheron Definitely recommend Mishra's book "Age of Anger", yet it leaves a huge grey zone to understanding why there is such a rejection of the values and institutions that enabled the many to prosper in the second half of the 20th century.
I live in France, one of the least inegalitarian nations among the OECD with one of the highest levels of redistribution and social safety nets, yet even here populism seeks to dismantle the status quo.
As a pendant to Mishra's book filling a part of the understanding gap I found Christophe Guilluy' "Twilight of the Elites" translated and published by Yale University Press. His study, though focussed on France is easily transposable to the Anglosphere (US & UK), to the constituencies that a Trump and Johnson build their myths, lies and disinformation upon.
On the broader scope I have come to the conclusion that 2020 if for the Dems to loose and fear they will. Conservatism on either side of the diminishing Atlantic divide understand that the Reagan - Thatcher revolution of the 80's is at the make or break point, its leaderships will break any and all rules that stand in their way.
12
Cohen is not alone in skewering the Internet for changing things for the worse. That is entirely wrong. the internet is merely a kindergarten for what will soon be the means for a tenfold global change for which the author seems unprepared. Quantum computing will be introducing lightening quick jumps in capacity along with a sea change in attitude regarding everything. The biggest benefit will be that we will no longer have binary politics as more than a trivial sideshow. We will be enjoying a feast of imagining. And we will build a world that's up to speed.
1
@Stephen C. Rose
You disregard the human element at your peril. Advanced technology will only heighten the risks, not solve them, if humanity is not able to get along and to do what is required.
8
@Stephen C. Rose
That's what they said, almost word for word, when the Internet was new.
6
@Stephen C. Rose
Technology absent the wisdom to utilize it for the good is nothing but a house of horrors.
5